STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Well-known builder, entrepreneur and philanthropist Alex Woskob of State College, Pa., died peacefully at home in his sleep at the age of 97 in the company of his beloved wife, Helen, on May 27.
He lived a rich and storied life, much of which is described in detail in his book, “Memoirs of My Life” (WUS Publishers, 2004). His wife, Helen, also relates many fascinating stories of her own life’s tribulations, joys and life together with Mr. Woskob in her own memoir, “Freedom and Beyond: A Ukrainian Woman’s Journey to a New Life in America” (Piramida Publishers, 2015).
Mr. Woskob was born Oleksiy Woskobijnyk in the resort town of Myrhorod in the Poltava region of Ukraine on March 13, 1922, to an independent farming family. His mother, Maryna, gave birth to two other sons: Mykhailo (who later became a professor of history in the U.S.) and Ivan (who became a builder in Philadelphia). As a young adult, Alex gained recognition for his talents in electrical engineering and was assigned to work as manager of an electric power plant in Myrhorod and in Lviv in western Ukraine.
The Soviet regime persecuted Mr. Woskob’s father, Hryhory, along with other independent Ukrainian farmers during forced collectivization and executed him in 1937 during Joseph Stalin’s Great Terror. Alex was six years old when his mother and his brothers Mykhailo and Ivan were forced out of their home in the middle of a winter night during collectivization. After many years of trying to survive, they were forced to flee their homeland during World War II because of the continued persecution by both the Nazis and Soviets.
Following the Allied victory the Woskobijnyk family lived in a displaced persons camp in Germany, and Alex was given the opportunity to study at the University of Munich for three years. In early 1949 he made a life-changing decision to immigrate to Canada, where he took a job as an electrical engineer at Westinghouse. While Mr. Woskobijnyk was working in Canada, his older brother Mykhailo, who was still in Germany, sent him a photo of a smart and beautiful young woman who he thought might be of interest to his brother as a prospective life partner. Alex fell in love at first sight with the woman in the picture his brother sent of Halya (Helen) Drobot and decided to return to Germany to convince her with unwavering persistence to marry him. Alex kept that small picture of Helen in his wallet as a keepsake for the rest of his life.
Alex and Helen were wed on January 27, 1950, in Germany, and soon afterwards Helen followed her new husband to Canada, where they began their family with the birth of their first child, Laura, and where Alex began learning the building business.
Mr. Woskobijnyk moved the family in 1953 to Philadelphia, where he started a construction company, I & A Corp., with his brother Ivan. Alex and Helen continued to grow their business and family with three more sons, George, Alexander and Victor. With the original long Ukrainian family name of Woskobijnyk difficult to pronounce for Americans, Alex and Helen decided to legally shorten it to Woskob.
In 1964 Mr. and Mrs. Woskob became partners in business when they decided to construct modern high-rise buildings in State College, Pa. Their company, AW & Sons, first built a seven-story complex called Parkway Plaza. The apartments were the first of their kind in State College. Mr. Woskob built his buildings with his own crew, hands on, with his own styled brick and block construction. Working in close partnership with his wife enabled Mr. Woskob to achieve the success of his dreams. AW & Sons proceeded to become a leader in providing high-quality student housing one block from campus and continues to serve thousands of students each year.
Mr. Woskob developed a special love of the community in State College, where he settled with his family. He was a special man to many people. He and his wife have been extensive patrons of the arts at Penn State with support for numerous musical, artistic and cultural events. The Woskob Family Gallery in Penn State’s Downtown Theater bears their name. Mr. and Mrs. Woskob also made numerous contributions to support Ukrainian culture through the establishment of the Bahriany Foundation, through contributions to Ukrainian democracy-oriented and church organizations, and through major contributions to The Pennsylvania State University to establish The New Century Fund in the College of Agricultural Sciences and the Woskob Family Endowment in Ukrainian Studies in the College of Liberal Arts.
Mr. Woskob loved his native Ukraine with all his heart. He also loved his adopted homeland in America, too, for all the freedom and opportunities it offered him. He truly lived the American dream and will always be remembered as a hard-working, kind, generous and wonderful man, beloved by his family, his friends and the State College community.
He is survived by a large extended family: his wife, Helen Woskob; his son George Woskob with his wife, Nina, and their three children, Larissa Castner, George A. Woskob, and Alexander B. Woskob; their daughter, Laura Alexander, with her son, Nicholas Alexander, and two daughters, Alexandra Gryshchuk and Larissa Vale; their deceased son Victor M. Woskob’s four sons, Victor A. Woskob, Ashlee C. Woskob, Jonathan D. Woskob and Alexander G. Woskob; and seven great-grandchildren, Helena Woskob, Tiyanna Woskob, Nataliya Woskob, Alyssa Woskob, Hanna Woskob, Chase Woskob, and James Elabd. Mr. Woskob’s two brothers Mykhailo and Ivan predeceased him along with two of his sons, Alexander and Victor.
In lieu of flowers the family requested that contributions be made to The New Century Fund in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State.
A memorial service officiated by Father David Smith of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in State College, Pa., was offered on May 30 at the Koch Funeral Home in State College, Pa.
The funeral was on Saturday, June 1, at St. Andrew’s Memorial Ukrainian Orthodox Church in South Bound Brook, N.J.
Source: Woskob Family.