MIRSKY

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at 05:24:43 :

Independent Journal
Tuesday, January 29, 1985
Section B, page 4

SERGEY A. MIRSKY

A funeral for Sergey A. Mirsky of Terra Linda was held today at St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in San Anselmo.

Mr. Mirsky died Sunday at his home, He was 78.

He was a native of Russia and escaped from the Soviet Union in the 1930s on his second attempt. In the first try, Mr. Mirsky was arrested at the Polish border and served seven years in a prison camp at Solovki near the White Sea.

After his release he made his successful bid for freedom when he got a job as a deckhand on a boat, and jumped overboard and swam to shore.

Friends said Mr. Mirsky was on the Syr Darya River and thought he had escaped to India, but found himself in China instead. After finding life difficult in China, he walked to India through mountain passes.

After getting to England, Mr. Mirsky began a long career with British oil companies and became a British citizen.

He had worked for oil companies in Iran, Burma, England and Australia before coming to the United States in the 1950s.

He was an active member of St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church and sang in the choir.

Mr. Mirsky also attended activities on a daily basis at the San Rafael Senior Center.

His wife, Margaret, died several years ago.

He has no immediate survivors.

Burial was at Mount Tamalpais Cemetery in San Rafael.