Vasyl Oleskiw

It is with deep sorrow that we announce to all members of the Ukrainian Youth Association the passing away on 17 December 2016 in London, UK, of Vasyl Oleskiw, aged 93.

A founding member of CYM in the UK, he was a participant in the first meeting of the CYM Organising Bureau in Tattershall, Lincolnshire, on 1 July 1948. He was the first and longstanding Deputy Chair of CYM in the UK with responsibility for the organisation’s national educational programme.

He had a deep appreciation of CYM’s role in our community, and for 14 years was a member of the National Executive. He became the first head of CYM in London in 1948 and remained its long-standing member. He participated in the meeting of the Central (later World) Committee of CYM in London in 1953.
Vasyl Oleskiw was a distinguished public and political figure.

He was a long-standing member of the Presidium of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB), a member of the Board of Directors of the Ukrainian Publishers Limited and the Ukrainian Information Service (UIS).

He was elected chairman of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and served as such from 1987 – to 1991.

The National Executive of CYM sends its sincerest condolences to Vasyl Oleskiw’s son, Stepan, and the whole family.

May he rest in peace!