Irene Meducha | Business owner, 91

Irene Tuziak-Bereza Meducha, 91, of Fairmount, a business owner, died of cancer Tuesday, May 25, at home.

A native of Lviv, Ukraine, Mrs. Meducha and her husband met in a German factory where they were forced to work during World War II. After the war, they studied at the Ukrainian Technical and Husbandry Institute in West Germany.

They married in 1948, and in 1949 they immigrated to Philadelphia, where they worked in a toy factory and in a car-springs factory.

After buying a home in Fairmount in 1952, Mrs. Meducha began baking European pastries, which her husband delivered to stores. Later the couple operated a grocery.

They eventually owned several coin-operated laundries and owned and managed rental properties as M&M Enterprises. While her husband handled the paperwork, she supervised contractors who renovated the buildings, said her daughter, Maria Mizak.

Mrs. Meducha and her husband, who died in 2002, were active in the Ukrainian community and supported Ukrainian charities and institutions.

It was a labor of love for Mrs. Meducha to bake elaborate napoleons and tortes for her family, her daughter said.

Mrs. Meducha is also survived by a son, Audrey, and two grandsons.

A viewing will begin at 6:30 p.m., with Parastas prayers at 7:30, on Tuesday, June 1, at the Fletcher-Nasevich Funeral Home, Franklin and Brown Streets. A requiem liturgy will be celebrated at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, June 2, at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, 24th and Poplar Streets. Burial will be in St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery, Elkins Park.