Ukrainian Technological Society cites Ukrainian of the Year Nickolas Kotow

PITTSBURGH - Nickolas C. Kotow of Bethel Park, Pa., was honored as the 1996 Ukrainian of the Year by the Ukrainian Technological Society of Pittsburgh at its 27th annual dinner and dance on November 30 at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association.

Mr. Kotow was selected for his efforts as a chronicler of the Pittsburgh Ukrainian community through the UTS Newsletter and his position as secretary in many local Ukrainian organizations. The UTS is a charter member of the Federation of Ukrainian American Business and Professional Associations.

Mr. Kotow was born in Canonsburg, Pa., of American-born parents. He graduated from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., with a B.S. in chemistry in 1966. He received a Juris Doctor degree in 1976 from Capital University, Columbus, Ohio, and a master's degree in library science from the University of Pittsburgh.

In 1977 while in Columbus, he began to research his Ukrainian ancestry, after viewing the television miniseries "Roots." He visited the home of his colleague Dr. Alexandra C. Melnyk, and her late husband, Konstantin, where he learned much about Ukraine. In Columbus, he joined the local branch of the Ukrainian National Association.

In 1979, after he returned to Pittsburgh, he joined the Ukrainian Technological Society. In January 1980 he was elected to its executive board and assigned to the society's newsletter committee. He has served on the UTS executive board and has been associated with the publication of the UTS Newsletter ever since. He has been secretary and treasurer of the society, and was president in 1982-1983 and 1986-1987. In 1986, with assistance from Myron J. Spak, he published the Ukrainian Directory of Greater Pittsburgh; in 1994 he worked with Gloria J. Kinal to publish an expanded, second edition of the directory.

In the fall of 1981 then UTS President Bohdan M. Konecky proposed that the community sponsor a Ukrainian festival. Mr. Kotow was on the first Pittsburgh Ukrainian Festival Committee in 1982 and has been a member of every annual festival committee. He has been chairman or co-chairman of the festival program book committee since 1984 and was chairman of the 1989-1992 festivals.

In 1984 Mr. Kotow joined the Western Pennsylvania Council of the League of Ukrainian Catholics of America. He has served the council as secretary and treasurer, and has been president since 1993. He was elected treasurer of the LUC national board and has served in this capacity since 1992. He joined the Diocesan Resource Committee of the Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of St. Josaphat in Parma, Ohio, in 1988, and is its acting chairman.

Mr. Kotow is a member of the Ukrainian American Citizens Club of Carnegie, Pa., and the American Ukrainian Citizens Club of Wilmerding, Pa., where he has served as appointed recording secretary for over a decade. He has been a member of many ad hoc committees, such as the Western Pennsylvania Branch of the National Committee to Commemorate the Millennium of Christianity in Ukraine in 1988 and the committees to host visits to Pittsburgh of the first president of modern-day Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, and the current ambassador of Ukraine to the United States, Dr. Yuri Shcherbak. He is president of UNA Branch 264 in Carnegie.

In his acceptance remarks, Mr. Kotow thanked Michael Komichak, director of the Ukrainian Radio Program in Pittsburgh for over 46 years, for nominating him; UTS President Ihor Havryluk and the society for naming him as the Ukrainian of the Year; and his mother, Virginia, and brother, Theodore, for helping him with many behind-the- scenes duties.

He proposed that the society join with other local Ukrainian organizations to create a "Ukrainian Visitors Network" in Pittsburgh. This network would ensure that Ukrainians visiting Pittsburgh at the invitation of non-Ukrainian hosts could have the opportunity to meet members of the Pittsburgh Ukrainian community. He has also proposed that the community establish a "Ukrainian Guest House," where Ukrainian business travelers could stay inexpensively while conducting business negotiations in the Pittsburgh area.

In naming Mr. Kotow as its Ukrainian of the Year, the Ukrainian Technological Society recognized his efforts in preserving the history of the Pittsburgh Ukrainian community through his articles and reporting in the UTS Newsletter and his secretarial duties in many organizations and on ad hoc committees, his willingness to help diverse facets of the community, his building of relationships throughout western Pennsylvania, and his ongoing moral and financial support of his Ukrainian heritage.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 5, 1997, No. 1, Vol. LXV

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