OBITUARIES

Eugene Skotzko, 88, economics editor, Ukrainian nationalist

SILVER SPRING, Md. - Eugene Skotzko Sr., 88, a retired economics editor of the U.S. Department of Labor's Monthly Labor Review and an early activist in the Ukrainian nationalist movement in North America, died of congestive heart failure on March 19 at the Allegis Rehabilitation Center in Silver Spring following a two-month hospitalization.

A resident of the Washington area since 1939, Mr. Skotzko was born in the village of Yarchivtsi in western Ukraine in 1907. He completed his secondary education in Poland before emigrating to New York City in 1929.

During the next decade he was involved full-time in promoting an international Ukrainian nationalist movement aimed at achieving Ukrainian independence. He was a member of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and, in 1931, became a founding member and the first secretary of the Organization for the Rebirth of Ukraine (ODVU). He helped establish several dozen ODVU chapters in the United States and Canada. In 1932 he was responsible for initiating publication of ODVU's first regular newsletter and in 1937 established that organization's Ukrainian Press Service in New York City.

In 1938 he returned to Europe for four months to build links between the Ukrainian diaspora and the newly independent state of Carpatho-Ukraine. On returning to the U.S. in 1939, he was sent by ODVU to Washington to open a Ukrainian Information Bureau there.

Mr. Skotzko held both a bachelor of science and a master of arts degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He began his career in the federal government in 1941 and served 35 years before retiring as economics editor of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Monthly Labor Review in 1976.

Mr. Skotzko was a member of the Federal Editors' Association, the first president of the Association of Ukrainians in Washington, and was a member of both the Ukrainian Institute of America and the Uk-rainian American Coordinating Council. He and his wife, Mary, were involved in establishing St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Washington in 1949.

He published his political autobiography, "In the Service of the Homeland" (1986), and was contributor to "The Zboriv Lands" (1985), a history of the nationalist movement in western Ukraine.

He was also a member of Ukrainian National Association Branch 15.

Mr. Skotzko is survived by his wife of 59 years, Mary Kissel Skotzko of Silver Spring; two sons, Waldimir and Eugene Jr., both of northern Virginia; and four grandsons.

George Belendiuk, 45, physician, researcher

POTOMAC, Md. - George W. Belendiuk, a founder and senior vice-president for research and development of Pharmavene Inc. pharmaceuticals in Rockville, Md., died of complications related to a rare lung infection in Shady Grove Adventist Hospital on April 20. He was 45.

Born in New York, Dr. Belendiuk graduated from McGill University in Montreal, and received a doctorate in pathology and a medical degree from the University of Chicago, where he also did his medical residency in neurology.

Dr. Belendiuk settled in the Washington area in 1991. At Pharmavene, he developed pharmaceutical products for treating epilepsy, cocaine dependence and other disorders, and conducted research to allow injectable drugs to be given by mouth. He was also an adjunct professor of neurology at Georgetown University.

Prior to his work at Pharmavene, Dr. Belendiuk worked in pharmaceutical product development at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, Schering Plough and CIBA-Geigy Pharmaceuticals, all in New Jersey. His work included development of cyclosporine to prevent rejection of transplanted tissues and of pharmaceuticals to treat central nervous system disorders. He also served on the neurology faculty at Rutgers University.

Funeral services were held at Pumphrey's Bethesda-Chevy Chase Funeral Home on April 25. Interment followed at Gate of Heaven Cemetery.

Dr. Belendiuk is survived by his wife, Krystyna; two children, Katherine Anne and Andrew Peter; brother, Arthur, of Washington; and parents, Lydia and Michael, of Florida and Pennsylvania.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 2, 1996, No. 22, Vol. LXIV

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