FURDEK, ŠTEFAN. – Catholic priest, born at Trstená na Orave (Slovakia) on 2 September 1855, died in Cleveland (Ohio) on 18 January 1915. Having gone to America in 1882, he was among the first Slovak priests to exercise their apostolate there in the New World; he became pastor in Cleveland and organized the Slovak parish of that city.
In 1890 he founded a Slovak Catholic Federation (Prva slovenská katolícka Jednota), a national organization with a Catholic religious character, directed especially toward social and cultural assistance. In 1861 he published the periodical Jednota for emigrants. He distinguished himself as a popular religious writer, in the work of safeguarding recently emigrated workers, and also for his ardent patriotic sentiments.