Dr. George M. Magnus

Dr. George Mironyuk Magnus, DMD, MPH, 40, of Union, NJ, departed on May 4, unexpectedly.

George was born on September 5, 1983, to Leonid Mironyuk and Zinaida (Zinkevych) Mironyuk in Lutsk, Ukraine. He was the youngest sibling of Serhiy, Vitaliy, Pavel, Helen, and Mariya.

In October 1990, he immigrated to the United States with his father and siblings. His mother passed away en route.

Despite his complicated childhood that prevented him from finishing high school, he persevered and obtained a General Education Diploma. In 2007 he graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. He worked as a dental assistant at various places, including American Dental Center in Union, NJ, where he moved in 2008. After relocating to Arizona in 2009, he continued to pursue dental work and studies. In 2012, he graduated from A.T. Still University of Health Sciences with a Master of Public Health degree.

In 2019, after obtaining another degree, Doctor of Dental Medicine, from the same university, he worked for three years at Affordable Dentures and Implants in Bullhead City, AZ, where he was owner of the practice. In 2022, he moved to Yuma, AZ, to work as a dentist at Arizona State Prison Complex. In October 2023, he made another move and started as a dentist at Zufall Health, West Orange, NJ.

Recently, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which finally provided him with answers to his mood shifts and behavior throughout his life. George had a roller coaster life with periodic ups and downs. In his up times, he was outgoing, meeting new people, and taking on difficult projects. In his down times, he withdrew, stopped communicating, and had difficulties performing simple tasks. As a result, his social life suffered and he often blamed himself for not always being “the same person.”

George moved to Arizona hoping to take advantage of the sunny climate. He thought that he had seasonal disorder where a person feels great in summer and lousy in winter. Right after settling in Arizona, he was really happy. All his problems seemed to be in the past. But the ups and downs came back.

He returned to New Jersey hoping to find a cure through being with family. He thought that maybe the loneliness was the problem. It seemed to work at first. He felt upbeat, communicative, full of energy, invincible. He became so confident that he decided to go to Ukraine and open a company. The company was his way to make a material contribution in supporting his native country fighting a war. He succeeded in this effort. However, this turned out to be his up time. When he came back he slowly slipped into his down time.

George was aware of his problems and took advantage of his up times as much as possible. While living in Massachusetts and attending UMass, he built his own shed room in the backyard. It had electricity from the main house, air conditioning, a TV, a bed, and a set of drums and guitars which he played alone and with his friends. He read ravenously trying to make sense of the world and find answers to the questions that kept him up at night. He visited many countries and learned Spanish, which served him well in his dental work. Together with his cousins once removed, and best friends, Alex Glib and Dmitriy Kukharchuk (Samoylov), he made a memorable trip to Peru in 2015. After graduating from ATSU in 2019, he went on a motorcycle trip across Europe, including Ukraine. He also rode a motorcycle across Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. He performed pro bono dental work in the Dominican Republic and ventured across the border into Haiti, despite unsafe conditions there. During his short life, he experienced more than most people would in their entire lifetime.

He took advantage of his down times as well by scaling back on his activities and rescheduling important work and decisions for later. He was able to manage it for some time. That is how he achieved a great education and professional success. As time passed by, the stressors of life started to take more and more effect on him. He fought back fiercely by seeking help from family, psychiatrists, and therapists. He also wrote in his diary, conversing with himself, deliberating about various decisions, looking for answers.

On the endpaper of one diary book he wrote, “Don’t be sad that it’s over. Be grateful that it happened.”

George was predeceased by his mother and father. He is survived by his siblings: Serhiy, Vitaliy, Pavel, Helen, and Mariya; his stepmother, Vera Mironyuk; his sister-in-law, Nadya Geniush; his brother-in-law, Ilya Kobzar; his niece, Martha Myroniuk and her husband, Dmitriy Chaplin; his niece, Polina Myroniuk; his niece, Anya Kobzar; his nephew, Daniel Kobzar; his aunt, Nina Derevyanchuk and her husband Vasiliy; his aunt, Vira (Mironyuk) Vaplyaruk in Ukraine; as well as numerous cousins and their children.

George will always be remembered for his kind eyes, delicateness, honesty, inquisitive mind, adventurous spirit, style of dressing. We love you, George!

Family and friends are welcome to attend a celebration of life at Union Funeral Home in Union, NJ, on May 11th from 12pm to 4pm and a repast at Mambo 2185 Rt. 22 West, Union, NJ, 07083 from 4:30pm to 6:30pm.

Cremation services will be held privately.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations to be made to Razom for Ukraine ( https://www.razomforukraine.org ), an organization George would have approved of.