Igor was born in Jerusalem on Oct. 11, 1932, the son of Nicholas and Alexandria Sviatoslavsky. He came to the United States on a Fulbright scholarship in 1951 and attended Davidson College in North Carolina. He served in the US Army from 1954-1955.

He married Wanda Blejwas on May 13, 1956 in New Jersey. He received his Masters degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1958 and worked for UW-Madison from 1956 until he retired as a Senior Scientist in 2005. He was the 1998 recipient of the John G. Bollinger Award for his contributions to fusion engineering, for developing innovative design solutions for fusion reactors, and for developing methods for recovering lunar resources.

Igor loved going on his annual Canadian fishing trip with his work friends and going to his cabin "Pete's Place" in Northern Wisconsin. Igor loved reading and writing poetry. He loved attending his grandchildren's musicals, baseball, soccer, and basketball games. He was a loving husband, father and grandfather.

Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Wanda of Madison; sons, Andy (Meg) Sviatoslavsky of Madison, and Greg (Cindy) Sviatoslavsky of San Anselmo, CA; grandchildren: Lydia, Elena, Peter and Alex, brother, Nicholas (Marina) Sviatoslavsky of Greendale; sister, Olga (George) Nazaroff of South Bend, Ind. He is further survived by a number of nieces, nephews.

Funeral services will be held at ASSUMPTION GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH, 11 N. Seventh Street, Madison at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010, with Fr. Michael Vanderhoef presiding. Burial will be in Forest Hill Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the UW Cardiovascular Research Center (www.cvrc.wisc.edu/donate.html) 5710 Medical Center, 1300 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, (608) 263-2266