Stephen Boleslav Roman

Stephen Boleslav Roman (17 April 1921 – 23 March 1988) was a prominent Canadian mining engineer and mining executive of a Slovak origin.^[1] Business commentator Diane Francis described him as a self-made man in her book Controlling Interest.^[2] A 1967 profile in Fortune magazine said "Toronto teems with speculators who have made it big promoting oil, mines, and penny stocks, but no one has made it bigger than Stephen Boleslav Roman."^[3] Peter Newman profiled him in "Sometimes a great nation: will Canada belong to the 21st century?"^[4]

Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Markham

Stephen Boleslav Roman
The life and work of Štefan Boleslav Roman (compiled by Zuzana Pavelcová), Slovak Matica, 2023
Born	(1921-04-17)April 17, 1921 Veľký Ruskov, Czechoslovakia
Died	23 March 1988(1988-03-23) (aged 66) Markham, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Slovak, Canadian
Occupation	mining engineer
Known for	Rose to be president of Denison Mines, inducted in the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame

Štefan Boleslav Roman was born in village Veľký Ruskov (now Nový Ruskov) in Slovakia. He emigrated to Canada when he was 16 years old. Since his youth he was strong connected to the Greek Catholic Church. He helped to found and organize the Slovak Catholic Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto. The monumental Cathedral of the Transfiguration of our Lord in Markham was funded and designed by him, modeling the structure on the church in Veľký Ruskov.^[5]

Roman was invested in the Order of Canada and the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame.^[6] The Vatican appointed him a Papal knight.^[7]

The lake freighter Stephen B. Roman was named after him.^[8]

References

1. "Stephen Roman dead at age 66". The Northern Miner. 1988-03-28. Retrieved 2013-09-04. Stephen B. Roman, the man who took control of a penny mining stock in 1953 and built it into one of the largest mining empires in Canada, has died. He was 66.
2. Diane Francis (1987). "Controlling interest: who owns Canada?". McClelland-Bantam. p. 99. ISBN 9780770422134. Retrieved 2013-09-04. Stephen Boleslav Roman is one of that rare species among Canada's rich: he's a self-made man and an ideologue, who fiercely believes in Catholicism, capitalism, the emancipation of Slovakia, Denison Mines, and...
3. "Businessmen around the globe". Fortune magazine. 1967. p. 68. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
4. Peter Charles Newman (1988). Sometimes a great nation: will Canada belong to the 21st century?. McClelland and Stewart. p. 255. ISBN 9780771067501. Retrieved September 4, 2013.
5. František Dancák: ROMAN, Štefan Boleslav - zoe.sk (Slovak)
6. "Stephen B. Roman (1921 – 1988) – 1989 Canadian Mining Hall of Fame Inductee". Republic of Mining. Archived from the original on 2010-12-29.
7. Patricia Burgess, Roland Turner (1988). "The Annual Obituary, 1988". St. James Press. p. 161. ISBN 9781558620506. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
8. George Wharton. "Great Lakes Fleet Page Vessel Feature -- Stephen B. Roman". Boatnerd. Archived from the original on 2011-05-19.