EDITORIAL: Eugene Iwanciw, 1952-2006 (03/05/06)

EDITORIAL

Eugene Iwanciw, 1952-2006

This week we learned the sad news that Eugene Iwanciw is gone after decades on the scene in Washington and within our Ukrainian American community, where he was best known as an activist of the Ukrainian National Association.

He began to make his mark in our community early on. As a student he played a leading role in the Federation of Ukrainian Student Organizations of America (SUSTA), organizing student clubs and spurring students to action on issues of the day - most notably protests against Soviet violations of human and national rights.

Soon thereafter he was elected, at the very young age of 22, as a supreme advisor of the UNA. It was an affiliation that would last for the rest of his all too short life. He brought to the UNA the same idealism and energy that he had manifested in SUSTA.

He came into office in 1974 with a focus on youth. "There seems to be, among our youth, a lack of understanding about the UNA and other community organizations. The importance of our fraternal and financial organizations is generally misunderstood," he wrote in 1978, adding that in his first term as supreme adviser he attempted to reach the younger generations. He noted that "The potential of the UNA is immense ... The past is a tribute to the pioneers who built our organization. The future belongs to the young members of our organization." Indeed, in later years he was joined on the UNA Supreme Assembly by a group of young activists who understood the intrinsic value of the UNA and its historic role within the Ukrainian diaspora.

The quintessential "political animal," Mr. Iwanciw was intimately involved in promoting the Ukrainian cause in Washington - even before he was tapped to direct the UNA Washington Office. He played a key role in countless political actions and he demonstrated, again and again, his tenacity in working toward a goal.

It was during his work with the UNA's Heritage Defense Committee that Mr. Iwanciw first proposed the creation of a fully-staffed Washington office of the UNA to represent the interests of not only the UNA, but the entire Ukrainian American community. The office opened on July 1, 1988, with Mr. Iwanciw at the helm. Under his direction the office tackled myriad issues and tasks: defense of Soviet political prisoners; refugee status for Ukrainian Catholics and Ukrainian Orthodox persecuted in the USSR; funding for the U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Famine; disseminating the truth about developments in Ukraine, both pre- and post-independence; obtaining U.S. recognition of Ukraine's independence; searching for an appropriate home for the Embassy of Ukraine; helping to coordinate visits to the U.S. by Ukrainian leaders, etc.

In 1994 he reported to the UNA Convention: "Were it not for the UNA, Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly, we would not have been able to provide accurate information about Ukraine to the West at a critical time. Were it not for the UNA, there would be no Kyiv Press Bureau, which provided invaluable information to U.S. policymakers. Were it not for the UNA, there would be no Washington Office which orchestrated the congressional campaigns for U.S. recognition of Ukraine and U.S. foreign assistance to Ukraine. In other words, were it not for the UNA, U.S. foreign policy may have been far more disadvantageous to Ukraine than it was."

Four years afterwards, in his last report to a UNA convention, Mr. Iwanciw tried to get the UNA's leaders and members to refocus, underscoring that they needed "to set a course for our organization which would ensure our future" and pointing to the importance of what President George H.W. Bush had once referred to dismissively as "that vision thing": "'That vision thing' is an understanding of who we are and what is our mission. We are a Ukrainian American organization and both being Ukrainian and being American is critical to our survival. ... To survive and prosper, the UNA must provide more than insurance. It must provide an identity, a heart and a soul. We must provide leadership for our community here and in Ukraine..." That was Mr. Iwanciw's advice to the UNA, an organization he loved and cherished - and something he himself tried to carry out.

Eugene Iwanciw had "that vision thing." We will miss you, Gene. And we will miss your vision.

| Home Page |