Why the city council failed to write an obituary for the honorary citizen Serdtsev and did not organise the funeral: response from the vice-mayor of Mykolaiv

Vadym Serdtsev, an Honorary Citizen of Mykolaiv, died at the age of 96. The legendary citizen of Mykolaiv planted more than 20,000 trees in the city, devoting more than 30 years of his life to landscaping.

The funeral service for the man took place on Tuesday, 23 September. However, as of 24 September, the official website of the Mykolaiv City Council has not yet published an obituary in memory of Vadym Serdtsev, according to NikVesti.

Vadym Serdtsev passed away on 20 September. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he had been living in Odesa, and only recently returned to his native Korabelnyi district in Mykolaiv. The funeral was fully organised by the Serdtsev family.

At the same time, as reported on 24 September by «Korabelov.Info», not a single representative of the local authorities attended the funeral of Vadym Serdtsev. The editorial board of NikVesti contacted the first deputy mayor, Vitalii Lukov, who explained that he had learned about the death of the honorary citizen after the funeral and media reports.

«This was the responsibility of the Korabelny district. The deputy head of the Korabelnyi administration (Olha Popova, — note) and a specialist from the administration were there. The mayor and the secretary were out of town, they were on a business trip. I found out when it happened,» said Vitalii Lukov.

When asked why the Mykolaiv City Council did not organise Vadym Serdtsev's funeral, as required by the regulation on awarding the title of «Honorary Citizen of Mykolaiv», he replied:

«There were no appeals from relatives. There were no messages to us. Of course, we would have done all this, but there were no requests,» he added.

It turns out that the deputy head of the Ship's Administration received information about the death of the Honorary Citizen, but the Mykolaiv City Hall did not know this information.

Vadym Serdtsev, a landscaper in Mykolaiv

Vadym Andriiovych Serdtsev, 96, had been selflessly planting trees in the city of Mykolaiv for years. Decision of the Mykolaiv City Council of 11 September 2019 №55/3 on awarding the title of «Honorary Citizen of the City of Mykolaiv».

Vadym Serdtsev worked as a power engineer at a production facility for years. He began to pay attention to gardening when he retired. He grew the seedlings himself. The media wrote that after returning to Mykolaiv, he often went out with a wheelbarrow and jerry cans to water the seedlings and take care of the mature trees. Vadym Serdtsev always repeated that «the whole planet should be green».

In 2019, in an interview, he said that among his favourite trees he planted were catalpas, elms, acacias, and exotic paulownias. He grew some seedlings from seeds, and some he dug up from plantations and forest areas, giving them a second life. Vadym Serdtsev's favourite is the catalpa. It is thanks to him that this tree has become popular in Mykolaiv. There used to be only a few of them in the city. And when he saw that the catalpa takes root and grows very well in our conditions, and it can grow by 10 centimetres in a year, Serdtsev began to arrange mass plantings. Entire alleys of catalpa planted by Serdtsev are growing in the area of Okeanivska Street near the Central District Hospital №5.