Jaroslaw Padoch, dedicated community leader, dead at 89 (09/06/98)

Jaroslaw Padoch, dedicated community leader, dead at 89

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Jaroslaw Padoch, a leading member of the Ukrainian American community through his dedicated work in the Plast scouting organization and commitment to the Ukrainian National Association, died in New York on August 28.

Mr. Padoch, a Ukraine-educated lawyer, was born in Buchach in western Ukraine on December 14, 1908, where he became a community activist while still in his youth.

In high school, he became a member of the Plast fraternity Chervona Kalyna, with which he remained involved until his death. He was a founding member of the branch in the United States in the 1950s and led the fraternity for 50 years as its otaman.

Mr. Padoch also headed the Plast National Executive from 1954-1957. He led the search for a U.S. headquarters for Plast and for land for summer camps for the organization. Eventually a site was found in upstate New York. In 1953-1954 he was the commandant of the Plast camps at Vovcha Tropa.

For his efforts on behalf of Plast, he was awarded its highest honor, the Gold Medal of St. George.

It did not take long after his arrival in the United States for Mr. Padoch to understand the mission of the Ukrainian National Association in the diaspora and its importance to the new immigrants, and he soon joined.

He became an organizer and through his efforts the UNA gained hundreds of new members. By 1954 he was a supreme advisor. Four years later, in 1958, he was elected supreme secretary, the first person from the post-World War II immigration to become a member of the UNA executive body. He held the post until 1974, and remained active in the UNA as an honorary member of the General Assembly after his retirement. He was also a regular contributor to the UNA publication, Svoboda, as well as the UNA Almanac.

UNA President Ulana Diachuk said Mr. Padoch's efforts on behalf of the UNA were critical to the organization's post-war development and will not be forgotten.

Among the many achievements in his life, two of the most outstanding for the Ukrainian American community were his contributions to building the Taras Shevchenko monument in Washington D.C. and establishing the Harvard Ukrainian Studies Fund.

Mr. Padoch was one of several individuals who led the fund-raising drive that resulted in Harvard University establishing in 1968 the first chair in Ukrainian Studies.

In addition, as treasurer for the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America from 1962-1966, he was responsible for raising money in the community for the construction effort that led to the unveiling of the Shevchenko Monument on June 27, 1964.

The community activist, while smoothly juggling the many duties he took upon himself, also found time to head the Shevchenko Scientific Society in the U.S. from 1977 to 1991, and was chairman of its international council in 1982.

Mr. Padoch is survived by his wife Iryna, his two daughters, Maya and Christina, and their families. Burial took place at the cemetery of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle in So. Bound Brook, N.J., on September 2.

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