Ginutis (Genius) Procuta: Patriot. Philanthropist. Book lover. Arts advocate. Born Nov. 11, 1933, in Vilkaviskis, Lithuania; died Feb. 21, 2018, in Toronto, of a stroke; aged 84.
Genius (a variation of his name about which he often joked) was not one to pass up the opportunity of striking up a conversation with a stranger. That’s how we met. One afternoon in the summer of 1970, shortly following his move to Ottawa, we both left the theatre after having seen A Clockwork Orange. “What did you think of the movie?” he asked. While waiting for the bus home, we shared our thoughts and realized we lived in the same neighbourhood. It was the beginning of a friendship between our families that has lasted over 45 years.
Genius’s personal history fascinated us. His family fled Lithuania in 1943 to escape the Soviet invasion and spent six years in refugee camps. Genius’s father, who served in the military, died during the war. Many countries refused to accept widows, but in 1949, New Zealand welcomed his family. One of the passengers on the ship from Europe was six-year-old Dalia, who would one day become Genius’s wife. The Lithuanian community in the country was small and over time, friendship and then romance between the two led to a wedding in 1963.
Ginutis ProcutaSupplied
That same year, Genius and Dalia immigrated to the United States where he enrolled at the University of Chicago. Their much-loved daughter Egle was born in that city. The family later settled in Ottawa when Genius began teaching in the social-sciences faculty at the University of Ottawa. He became a Canadian citizen soon after. In the mid-1980s, they followed their daughter to Toronto and stayed because of its cosmopolitan features.
Genius was a colourful character. With his small stature, twinkling eyes and moustache, he could do a hilarious imitation of Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator. He had a keen sense of humour and was a great storyteller. A proud Canadian, he often spoke of his attachment to this country’s values, its support of the arts and its immigration policies. Having suffered from authoritarian regimes, he never took political freedom for granted and had enormous respect for the artists and intellectuals who defied despots.
Genius loved his family above all and was especially proud of his grandsons Antoine and Julien, for whom he was an inspirational figure. He had a deep-rooted passion for Lithuania and was a great lover of books. He opened a bookstore in downtown Toronto as a retirement project and spent a large part of his life sending books to the library of the University of Vilnius. The toil involved in this endeavour, including foraging for books and personally inscribing each one, is hard to imagine. Over some 40 years, Genius sent more than 10,000 volumes to the university library and other libraries across his homeland. In 2017, he received the Order of Merit of Lithuania.
The last time I saw Genius, knowing we might not meet again, I said: “We have had a good life.”
“That’s true,” he said, “but I would very much have liked to have been an actor.”
On the world stage, Genius was a fine one indeed.
Paul-Émile Leblanc was Genius’s friend.
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