OBITUARIES (01/24/99)

OBITUARIES

Dr. Roman Holiat, journalist and community activist, 76

NEW YORK - Dr. Roman Holiat, longtime correspondent for the Svoboda daily and contributor to the Ukrainian press in the diaspora, died here on December 24, 1998, at the age of 76.

Dr. Holiat was born on August 4, 1921, in Stare Misto, western Ukraine. After emigrating to the U.S. after World War II, he worked as a draftsman and became active in Ukrainian community life. He received a J.D. degree from the Ukrainian Free University in Munich in 1949.

Dr. Holiat's affiliation as correspondent for Svoboda dates back to 1950. He was also a frequent contributor of articles to other Ukrainian press and publications in the diaspora, including The Ukrainian Quarterly.

Dr. Holiat was a corresponding member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in New York; a member of the Ukrainian Journalists Association of America, where he was served on the executive board; and a member of the Ukrainian Institute of America.

Dr. Holiat was secretary of UNA Branch 19 since 1962. He was actively involved in various fund-raising campaigns in the community, most notably for the Ukrainian Catholic University in Rome.

Dr. Holiat is survived by his wife, Yevhenia; sons, Yuriy and Edward, and their families; and brothers, Hylariy and Petro, and their families.

Funeral services were held on December 30, 1998, at St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church in New York, followed by interment at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, N.Y.

Wasyl Sharvan, producer of Buffalo radio program, 77

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Wasyl Sharvan, broadcasting producer of a long-running Ukrainian radio program and a leading Ukrainian community activist, died in his home in Williamsville, N.Y., on December 10, 1998. He was 77.

Mr. Sharvan was born on April 13, 1924, in Podusilna in western Ukraine. During World War II he joined with Ukrainian freedom fighters battling the Nazis and the Russians. As the war was coming to an end, after a brief imprisonment he fled Soviet-occupied western Ukraine, escaping to West Germany, where he married and practiced dentistry. He and his wife, Maria, emigrated to the U.S. in 1949.

In 1950 Mr. Sharvan founded the Sharvan Radio Program, dedicated to serving the Ukrainian community in western New York and southern Ontario. The progam was first broadcast on WHLD on Ukrainian Christmas Day, January 7, and continued airing six days a week until two years ago when Mr. Sharvan's health forced him to cut back to once a week.

For his work in the Ukrainian community, most notably for the production of the radio program, Mr. Sharvan was awarded a citation by the World Congress of Free Ukrainians in 1993.

In memory of Mr. Sharvan, the long-running radio program, which was on air for 49 years, will continue to be broadcast by Sharvan family members and the program staff.

A leading member of the Ukrainian community, Mr. Sharvan served seven terms as president of the Western New York Chapter of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and has served many years on the national board of the Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM). He was a member of the Anti-Bolshevik Block of Nations (ABN) and chairman of the Buffalo Chapter of the Ukrainian Friends of the ABN; director of the Captive Nations Committee of Western New York; chairman of the Buffalo Chapter of the Organization for the Defense of Four Freedoms for Ukraine; and chairman of the local Harvard Ukrainian Studies Chair Fund.

Mr. Sharvan was also co-founder of the Dnipro Credit Union and owner of Orbit Gift Package Inc., an import-export business.

A long-time president of Ukrainian National Association Branch 127 in Buffalo, he was also vice-president and chairman of the UNA Buffalo District.

Mr. Sharvan is survived by his wife, Maria (neé Boeck); two sons, Borys and Myron; a daughter, Larysa; and two grandchildren. Funeral services were held in St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church in Buffalo, followed by burial at St. Matthew's Cemetery in West Seneca, N.Y.

| Home Page |