OBITUARY: Joseph Lesawyer, president of the Ukrainian National Association (1961-1978) (02/12/06)

OBITUARY: Joseph Lesawyer, president of the Ukrainian National Association (1961-1978)

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Joseph Lesawyer, former supreme president of the Ukrainian National Association, died on Tuesday, January 31, at the age of 94. Mr. Lesawyer served as UNA supreme president for 17 years, and prior to that as supreme vice-president.

Mr. Lesawyer was born on May 25, 1911, in Northampton, Pa., the son of Ilko and Anna Lysohir. That same year the family moved to Hudson, N.Y., where Mr. Lesawyer completed his secondary education. He enrolled at New York University and in 1933 received a bachelor's degree in commerce. He was a real estate broker in New York City in the 1930s and 1940s and was on the Real Estate Board of New York.

He was also an avid athlete. He played baseball for NYU and took up golf and tennis after college. For many years he could be seen on the tennis courts of the UNA's Soyuzivka estate in Kerhonkson, N.Y.

Mr. Lesawyer served in the U.S. Army in 1941-1945, attaining the rank of captain in Gen. George Patton's famed 3rd Army. He earned the Bronze Star for distinction in service during the Battle of the Bulge. Later he became one of the founders of the nationwide organization of Ukrainian American Veterans.

On June 22, 1946, he married Mary Wallick, originally of Shamokin, Pa., a lyric soprano with the New York City Opera.

He was elected supreme vice-president of the UNA in 1950, serving his first term through 1954; he was elected to another four-year term in that post in 1958.

In 1961, after the death of longtime UNA Supreme President Dmytro Halychyn, Mr. Lesawyer became the fraternal organization's president. After serving the remainder of Mr. Halychyn's term, Mr. Lesawyer was elected supreme president in 1962 to the first of what would be four terms as the UNA's top executive officer. He served as supreme president through mid-1978.

Mr. Lesawyer was active in many Ukrainian organizations, including the Ukrainian Professional Society of North America (president, 1951-1953), the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (treasurer, 1949-1962; executive vice-president, 1962-1978). In 1967, at the first World Congress of Free Ukrainians, he was elected a vice-president on the WCFU presidium; in later years he was a member of the WCFU plenum.

In 1964 he was named by President Lyndon B. Johnson to serve as a member of the National Citizens' Committee for the Community Relations Service. As President Johnson noted, the service was established by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to "assist communities in preventing or resolving racial disputes and tensions through reason, persuasion and conciliation."

Mr. Lesawyer was executive director of the Shevchenko Memorial Committee of America Inc. that was responsible for the erection in 1964 of the monument to Taras Shevchenko in Washington. He also served for many years on the board of the Ukrainian Institute of America, was a board member of the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee, was an officer of the Ukrainian Youth League of North America and served on the Visiting Committee for Ukrainian Studies at Harvard University.

In 1976 he was national chairman of the Ukrainian Bicentennial Committee that sponsored a program in Washington on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the American Revolution and the 100th anniversary of Ukrainian immigration to America.

In addition he was active in the Democratic Party, playing major roles on both the state and national levels, in the National Fraternal Congress of America, the New Jersey Fraternal Congress, the Jersey City Chamber of Commerce and the Liberty State Park Commission.

In 1997 Mr. Lesawyer was honored at a dinner at New York sponsored by the Ukrainian Institute of America, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the Ukrainian National Association.

During his many years of service to the Ukrainian community, Mr. Lesawyer received many honors, among them the Shevchenko Freedom Award, the World Congress of Free Ukrainians Award and the Ukrainian Institute Recognition Award.

Mr. and Mrs. Lesawyer, who resided for many years in Scotch Plains, N.J., later retired to the North Port area in Florida, where they were active members of the Presentation of the Most Holy Mother of God Ukrainian Catholic Church (known locally as St. Mary's). In recent years they had resided at an assisted living facility in the Orlando area.

The Lesawyers were known as supporters of various educational and charitable organizations, among them the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and the Ukrainian Institute of America.

A funeral liturgy was held on Monday, February 6, at St. Mary's Church with the Rev. Severyn Kovalyshin, pastor, officiating. Interment was to take place at Indiantown Gap Military Cemetery in Pennsylvania, where Mr. Lesawyer's wife, was buried after her death on June 13, 2004.

The Ukrainian National Association was represented at the funeral by Martha Lysko, first vice-president; Ulana Diachuk, former president; Walter Hetmansky, former branch secretary in Boston; and Walter Boyd Boryskewich, secretary of Branch 381 in Florida.

Also present was a delegation of Ukrainian American Veterans, headed by Atanas T. Kobryn, past national commander and member of the national executive board. According to Mr. Kobryn, among the veterans present were members of North Port's Cpl. Roman G. Lazor Post 40, led by Post Commander Ihor Hron. UAV members served as honorary pallbearers and delivered a final salute to their departed comrade in arms.

Mr. Kobryn also noted that the local Ukrainian American community joined Mr. Lesawyer's nephews and nieces - Greg Wallick with his wife, Michelle; Kathy Stumpf with her husband, Bob; AnnMarie Curran with her husband, Larry; and Dennis Kivell with his wife, Nan - in paying their last respects.

The family has requested that memorial donations be made in Mr. Lesawyer's name to any Ukrainian charity or to the Alzheimer's Association.

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