A Biography:

Peter Jacyk

Petro Jacyk was primarily a builder, and in his philanthropic activities—just as in his business work in the construction industry—he strived to erect a solid edifice of Ukrainian studies in the West.

It was not by chance that one of the first projects he supported was the multi-volume Entsyklopediia ukraïnoznavstva (Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Studies), which he recognised as an indispensable foundation of Ukrainian studies. The next stage of this work was realised in Canada with the publication of the English-language Encyclopedia of Ukraine. The second aspect of constructing firm foundations for Ukrainian studies in the West was the publication of an essential history of Ukraine in English. Following extensive consultations with historians and other specialists, Mykhailo Hrushevsky’s monumental History of Ukraine-Rus’ was chosen as the work, which would present the history of Ukraine to the world in an authoritative manner. Following a $1,000,000 donation by Petro Jacyk to the University of Alberta (matched two-to-one by the Government of Alberta), the Peter Jacyk Centre for Ukrainian Historical Research was established at CIUS to deal with the translation and publication of this multi-volume work. To date, the Peter Jacyk Centre has published three volumes of Hrushevsky’s History, winning international acclaim for their high standards of translation and editing.

It was on these foundations—an essential history that would represent the Ukrainian people before the world and a national encyclopedia, which defined the heritage of Ukraine—that Jacyk foresaw the further building of the edifice of Ukrainian studies in the West. He established the Petro Jacyk Education Foundation and initiated other programmes at prestigious universities—Harvard, Alberta, Columbia, and Toronto. In the last years of his life, Mr. Jacyk began building what might be called the walls and roof of this edifice—programmes that would would inform the world about Ukraine and Ukrainians. He thus established several programmes for the study of contemporary Ukraine: the Peter Jacyk Ukrainian Studies Program at Columbia University in New York, the Peter Jacyk Distinguished Fellowship program at Harvard, and finally, the Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine at the University of Toronto.

Mr. Jacyk was the foremost builder of Ukrainian studies in the West, in the fullest sense of the word. CIUS and the Ukrainian community worldwide continue to mourn his loss, while celebrating his achievements.