Nick Sarden Semenuk

PORTLAND – Nick Sarden Semenuk entered this world on June 16, 1937 in Nestow, Alberta, Canada and departed it just over 89 years later, on June 25, 2026, in Portland.

One of two sons of Ukrainian immigrants Katie Kynsh Semenuk and Sarden Semenuk, Nick began life without the material comforts that many today take for granted, such as electricity and running water, but with an abundance of drive, strong family, and an unusual intelligence that sought more from the world than could be found in that beautiful little prairie settlement eking out an existence by small-scale farming.

So he left the farm at Nestow for high school in Edmonton, Alberta, living with his loving and supportive relatives and excelling enough to obtain a Governor General’s scholastic award that helped him attend the University of Alberta and obtain a B.S. in Chemistry in 1958.

As he would on several other occasions in his life, Nick took a long cross-country drive that summer. This trip ended in West Lafayette, Ind., where he enrolled in a PhD program in organic chemistry. After studying and conducting research projects for five years and making a number of lifelong friends, Nick earned a doctorate and decided to enter industry rather than academia. Most importantly for the course of his life, Nick met undergraduate Joan Webster on a blind date while there. They left Indiana after marrying in August 1963 and headed east to see the ocean for the first time in their 20s as Nick began work at the Olin Corporation and Joan at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

Within six years, Nick and Joan had three children, Steven, David, and Larisa, and had moved to Lawrenceville, N.J., as Nick began a long career at pharmaceutical manufacturer E.R. Squibb/Bristol Myers Squibb. Nick’s civic responsibility and belief in education led him to serve on the Lawrence Township School Board and various roles in the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, and to contribute to numerous charities.

Following retirement and 43 years in New Jersey, Nick and Joan moved to a land of rock and water, Maine, where they deepened their love of nature and made many new close friends in wonderful communities in Yarmouth and Portland. He contributed and connected at the Yarmouth Community Garden, Cumberland Wood Bank and Food Pantry, and the Sustainability Task Force at the Atrium.

Until the final days of his life, Nick loved words, numbers, nature, and a little evening snack. Those who knew Nick always will remember him walking on beaches; looking for unique and beautiful rocks, glass, and shells; and admiring flowers and trees. But more than anything, Nick’s daily routines of solving jumbles and crosswords; reading books and poetry; and checking the mail and news provided a certainty and reliability to himself and those he loved in a wild and untamed world that had changed so much since his youth.

He was predeceased by his brother, Sandy; and his son, David.

Nick will be missed greatly by his wife of 63 years, Joan; children Steven (Marianne) and Larisa (Peter); grandchildren Tyler, Amanda (Nick), Emma, Claire, Sophia, Daniel, and Vincent; great-grandchild Hazel; nephews Harold (Julie), Michael, and Arrow; his Webster relatives; and many other friends and family across the United States and Canada. His eternal gifts to them are wordplay, love of nature and music, and the calming rituals of tea, cookies, cheese and crackers.

A graveside service in Lawrenceville will be arranged at a future date.

Given his lifelong belief in the betterment of others, Nick would encourage memorial gifts to any charitable purpose.

In particular, his family suggests contributions to

Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, Haiti Fund;

2688 Main St.,

Lawrenceville NJ 08648

in lieu of flowers or other gifts.