The U.S.-Ukraine Foundation community is saddened by the passing of Dr. Stephan Kurylas on May 2, 2006.  Dr. Kurylas served as the USUF's Coordinator for the William Petrach Project in Starij Dobrotvir, Ukraine from September 1999 to August 2002.  In this capacity, Dr. Kurylas opened the newly-completed community center in Dobrotvir, Ukraine.  Because of his commitment to working with Ukraine, the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation in 2000 chose Dr. Kurylas to distribute aid to the families of miners who died in the Krasnodon mining disaster in Ukraine.  Also, among many of his activities in the Ukrainian-American community, Dr. Kurylas was an advisor to Virginia James, the Trustee of the William Petrach Charitable Trust, on the distribution of funds in the DC area.         

Born on February 6, 1921 in Poliukhiv, Ukraine, Dr. Kurylas graduated from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover, Germany.  He later went on to receive a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine in 1951 from Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Germany.  Arriving in the United States with his family in the 1950s, Dr. Kurylas was hired as a veterinarian with the meat and poultry inspection service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and then was promoted to a Staff Officer position for Laws and Regulations in Food Safety and Inspection Service.  Upon retirement in 1985, Dr. Kurylas began his own international consulting firm. 

A very active member of the Ukrainian-American community in Washington, DC, Dr. Kurylas is remembered by the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation staff; his wife of 61 years Olha Chrupowycz Kurylas; three children, Peter Kurylas of Hallandale, FL, Olenka Dobczanska of Silver Spring, MD, and Larysa Kurylas of Kensington; four sister; two brothers; and four grandchildren.