Timotei Ursu(1939-2024)

Timotei Ursu was born on January 22, 1939 in Timisoara, Romania. In 1962 he accomplished a first study in History and Philology from the "Babes-Bolyai University" in Cluj, Romania, but in 1969 he graduated also from the "National Film and Theater Institute" (UNATC) Bucharest. Starting already from 1965 Ursu worked several years for the Romanian Television, till 1985. He was a director for many documentaries, but also of fiction movies as: "Decolarea" ("Take Off", 1971), "Septembrie" (1978) and "Al Patrulea Stol" ("The Fourth Flock", 1979), being also the co-writer of these films, as well as of "Cursa" ("The Race", 1975), directed by Mircea Daneliuc, and of "Buna seara, Irina" ("Good Evening, Irina", 1981), directed by Tudor Marascu. While making a documentary film for the Romanian Navy, Ursu defected his native communist country to the Canary Islands, asking for political asylum in the US. Starting from 1986 he lived in Queens, NY, where he was mainly active in journalism and an asiduous contributor to the weekly Romanian newspapers, as: "Lumea Libera Romaneasca", "Lumea Noastra", and "New York Magazine". Timotei Ursu was the co-founder and writer of "Foaie", a magazine in Romanian language, but also a correspondent of the "BBC", from 2000 till 2004, while he was editor-in-chief of the "Lumea Libera Romaneasca". Ursu is the main adviser of the New York "Dacia Revival Society Inc.". He is a member of the "Romanian Academy of Science", a scholar in old Romanian history, and a contributor of to the Dacia Magazin "Origini" and "Conexiuni". Since 1998 he has also been a member of the "Romanian Writers Union".