Panchuk, John

Panchuk, John [Панчук, Іван; Pančuk, Ivan], b 4 April 1904 in Gardenton, Manitoba, Canada, d 4 November 1981 in Battle Creek, Michigan, USA. Lawyer and community leader. After moving to the United States with his parents (1916) he graduated from the University of Michigan law school (1928) and went into private practice. He served as assistant attorney general for Michigan (1937–40) and then as legal counsel for the Federal Home Life Insurance Co (1941–69). He devoted much of his time to the Ukrainian community: he was a founder and president (1936–7) of the Ukrainian Youth League of North America, chairman of the committee for reorganizing the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America in 1943, and president of the Ukrainian Graduates Club of Detroit and Windsor (1951). A leading figure in the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee (president in 1947–53), he played a key role in helping Ukrainian war refugees and resettling displaced persons in the United States. He was also active in American political life for many years as a prominent state member of the Democratic party. Panchuk wrote several books on Ukrainian subjects, including Shevchenko’s Testament: Annotated Commentaries (1965), Bukovinian Settlements in Canada (1971), Persha ukraïns'ka tserkva v Kanadi (The First Ukrainian Church in Canada, 1974), and Descendants of Michelo Panchuk (1975).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]