David Baszucki
Birth Name: David Brent Baszucki
Place of Birth: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Date of Birth: January 20, 1963
Ethnicity: Ukrainian
David Baszucki is a Canadian-American software engineer, entrepreneur, and developer. He is the CEO/co-founder of video game developer Roblox Corporation.
David is the son of Helen and Paul Baszucki. He was raised mostly in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. He is married to novelist and philanthropist Jan Ellison, with whom he has four children.
David’s paternal grandfather was Peter Edward Baszucki (the son of Phillip Baszucki and Mary Bodnar). Peter was born near Krasne, Saskatchewan, to parents from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Ukraine. Phillip most was likely the son of Sam Bashutski and Ann Hyrtliuk.
David’s paternal grandmother was Pauline Caroline Kitella (the daughter of Ivan Samuel “John” Kitella/Kitela and Mykhalina Caroline “Madeline” Korchinski/Korchynsky). Pauline was born in Ituna, Saskatchewan, to parents from Galicia, Austria-Hungary, now Ukraine. John was born in Stryi, and likely was the son of Samuel Kitella/Kitela and Katarina. Mykhalina was the daughter of Lev “Leo” Korchinski/Korchynsky and Paulina Hryciw. A picture of Mykhalina and Paulina can be seen here.
David’s maternal grandfather was William Beleyowksi (who likely was the son of Nicholas Beley and Catherine Klus). William was born in Carinthia, Austria-Hungary, now Austria, and was of Ukrainian descent.
David’s maternal grandmother was Sophia Letowski (the daughter of Dmytro/Demetrius Letowski and Nastia Iwasieczko). Sophia was born in Dana, Saskatchewan, to Galicia, Austria-Hungary, now Ukraine. Dmytro was born in Bilitówka, the son of Roman Letowski and Horpina Hroszowyj. Nastia was born in Hushtynka, and likely was the daughter of Feodor Iwasieczko and Maria Pidskalny/Pidskalney.
Sources: Genealogy of David Baszucki – https://www.familysearch.org
Marriage announcement of David’s parents – https://www.newspapers.com
Genealogy of David’s paternal grandfather, Peter Baszucki – https://www.findagrave.com
Obituary of David’s mother – https://www.altogetherfuneral.com
He is reported as Jewish.
Btw “Kitela” might be Rusyn and an Ukrainian from Carynthia is a bit odd. Many of his ancestors’ surnames are actually Polish.
He is not Jewish. If you are citing the interview with Liz Claman (that mentions something about his parents meeting each other at a Jewish summer camp) that is actually Liz talking. If you look at ancestors gravestones, a good chunk of them have crosses on them (most were devout Catholics) so the likelihood of him being of Jewish ancestry is fairly slim.
For the Kitela surname, you are referencing it being Rusyn. I would love to see a source for this, because I haven’t found any. His furthest traceable ancestor on any confirmable, documented, digitally-kept databases surnamed Kitella/Kitela was a man named Ivan (John) Samuel Kitela born in Stryi, Ukraine. His father, I assume, was taken from his family knowing more information than anything online, so I put it on there with a most likely. Ivan, as far as I am concerned, is Ukrainian.
Also! A lot of Poles have similar surnames to Ukrainians. I thought David Baszucki was Polish until I did his genealogy. I had no clue about this but, truly, they have similar surnames. It was hard to differentiate. Poles use the Latin alphabet, whereas Ukrainians use the Cyrillic alphabet. It is visible on many of his ancestors tombstones once you go far back enough (i.e. Ivan Kitella). Polish and Ukrainian are very similar languages, and are extremely closely related.
The Carinthia thing confused me too. I should’ve added another “most likely” because I don’t think Ukrainians were too common in Carinthia. Klus struck me as a German surname at first, but I found out it was more Eastern-European (with it having connections to the Polish, Rusyn, and Ukrainian languages).
I don’t think he is Jewish either, I just said he is reported as such in various websites. John Kitella race is listed as “Ukrainian”on Census. My assumption is because there are many Rusyns in Galicia, and it’s a relatively unusual sounding surname. There are Greek Catholics Kitellas too.