Page 16 - ABF Newsletter October 2024

In Memoriam
George Riszko 1944-2024
George Riszko lost a brave fight with cancer on 17 August 2024. Australia and Australian bridge lost a unique personality.
George was born on 5 July 1944 in Przemyśl in south-eastern Poland. The city is close to the border with Ukraine, and George’s father Wladimir was an ethnic Ukrainian who lived almost all his life in Poland. Wladimir was a hero of the Holocaust. For years, he sheltered Jewish people in the cellar of his home to hide them from Nazi attention. At the time of writing (2024), Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, is conducting a verification study that may culminate in Wladimir Riszko’s recognition as a “Righteous Gentile”.
One of the people sheltered by Wladimir Riszko was a young woman called Rifka. She and Wladimir wed. (There were two children – George and his younger sister Eva who was born in Hungary). The marriage was tempestuous. Rifka was beset by problems that were not of her own making. Firstly, her extended family, except for a brother, had all been massacred in concentration camps; she suffered from survivors’ guilt. Secondly, because she had married outside the faith, she had to bear the scorn of sections of the Jewish community. Perhaps these ambivalences passed on to son George. For much of his life George vacillated between a feeling of Jewishness and a slight desire to hide it.
War’s end brought a new threat to the Riszko family – USSR colonisation of Eastern Europe. The family kept ahead of the Russians by moving west through central Poland and Hungary until they reached West Germany, where they found sanctuary and tempo- rary stability in a refugee camp. From there, they ob- tained visas to migrate to New Zealand.
The years immediately following World War II trig- gered widespread immigration of northern and cen- tral Europeans whose lives had been disrupted by the war and its aftermaths. Hundreds of thousands of families left their homelands to start a new life far away. New Zealand and Australia were often the countries of choice. The Riszkos made their new home in Wellington where George grew up.
George Riszko chose dentistry as a career, and com- pleted his tertiary education (BDS) at the Univer- sity of Otago in Dunedin. With fine-boned hands, long fingers and acute eye-hand coordination, George was made to be a dentist. Before coming
Page: 16
to Canberra, he had prac-
tised in New Zealand, the
UK, Sydney and Gosford. For
a half-century, he kept well
abreast of the spectacular
advances in dental technol-
ogy that have transformed
a visit to the dentist from a
dreaded ordeal into a matter
of routine. It was clear to the
observer that George en-
joyed his profession, and it
was clear to his patients that he was good at the job. So much so, that the list of his patients included scores of Canberra bridge players.
I was one. Once, as I reclined in his surgery chair, I asked George whether he found dentistry a boring occupation. I’ve not forgotten his reply. “Of course, 85% is repetitive” he said, “but the rest is compen- sation – unusual and sometimes unique problems.” Then he added, “Not unlike bridge’’.
The analogy was apt as it related to George Riszko’s own bridge career. Although not in the very top ech- elon, George was a fine player. Four times he repre- sented ACT in ANCs, he held five club titles and, for a quarter century, was a prolific winner on the country congress circuit. These achievements represented the “85% repetitive”.
Three occurrences epitomise the “15% compensa- tion”. The first was at ANC2001 in Canberra. George, with Hashmat Ali and their ACT teammates, reached the final of the Seniors Teams. The opponents, Vic- toria, were firm favourites. At the halfway mark, ACT trailed by 25 imps. Then came the fourth stanza. George and Hashmat and team-mates at the other table won the 10-board set 55-3. It was the stuff of legend. The 27-imp buffer ensured ACT of the title.
The second occurrence was at the trials to select three pairs to form the 2002 Australian team to con- test the inaugural Asia-Pacific Seniors Teams Cham- pionship in Bangkok. George Riszko and Hashmat Ali entered the trials. Despite being rank outsiders, they qualified in second place. Then, in a strong field in Bangkok, they were second again. It was a perfor- mance for personal and national pride.
The third occurrence was of a different nature. George and his teammates were doing well in the qualifying rounds of the NOT and were drawn to play a strong New Zealand team. Having sat down at the table and greeted the opponents, George said “Our system is Symmetric Relay; you may be familiar with it – it was invented by New Zealander Roy Kerr.” “Thank you” responded an opponent, “I am familiar with Symmetric Relay. I am Roy Kerr”.
Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: October 2024