Erast Huculak, the well-known Ukrainian Canadian activist, recently donated the sum of $100,000 to help expand Ostroh Academy. This is not the first time that this university has received an endowment from the Canadian millionaire. Not so long ago, as reported in The Day, he donated the same amount to construct a new building at this academic institution.
Huculak explains his charitable action by the fact that Ostroh Academy is raising sincere Ukrainian patriots, who will help the country to progress. “Ostroh Academy educates people who will one day become the leaders of the Ukrainian nation and determine its future in economics, culture, and politics. I believe that Ostroh Academy deserves more assistance – not only from me but from others. I will circulate an appeal to wealthy Ukrainians to become donors of this educational institution,” said Huculak during his recent visit to the academy.
Despite his great wealth, Huculak arrived at the academy without a bodyguard (a rarity in our elite), accompanied only by his wife Yarmila Delores (nee Buka) whom Huculak calls his constant bodyguard, sincere friend, and advisor. For the good deed they performed for the sake of Ukraine’s development, the university administration conferred the title of Honorary Academicians of the Ostroh Academic Brotherhood on the couple and awarded them the academy’s highest distinction-silver Vasyl-Kostiantyn Ostrozky medals.
Huculak is not only a generous benefactor and a successful businessman – he is the president of the Medical Pharmacies Group of Canada – but also an active participant in Ukraine’s political life. Even though he has lived outside Ukraine since he was a child, he has always cherished his native country.
Huculak was born in Rivne into the family of a professor at the Rivne Gymnasium and has always remained a Volhynian at heart. He truly cares for Ukraine’s future. In 1990-1994, when the USSR collapsed and an independent Ukraine was emerging, he headed the Canadian Society of Rukh Supporters, providing financial and technical assistance to the Rukh (National Movement) in Ukraine and supporting the national idea.
He was also one of the founders and the first director of the Children of Chernobyl Canadian Fund. In 1989 he was one of the founders of the Canadian Centre for Ukrainian Culture and Ethnography at the University of Alberta and purchased a house in Ottawa, which he donated to the first Ukrainian Embassy in Canada.
In 1995 Huculak received the Shevchenko Medal from the Ukrainian Canadian Congress for his contributions to the development of the Ukrainian community in Canada. The following year his charitable activities and help in developing Ukrainian culture, education, and science won him the Honorary Diploma, Third Degree, awarded by the president of Ukraine and in 2001, the Honorary Diploma, Second Degree.
In 2001 Huculak received an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Alberta for his charitable and humanitarian work. In 2003 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine appointed him honorary consul of Ukraine to Canada. Huculak donated 500 acres of land in Oshawa for a youth park to express his family’s gratitude to Canada for the opportunity to settle in this country. Huculak describes vivid episodes from his life in a book of memoirs entitled Moia dereviana valizka (My Wooden Suitcase) which was launched during his visit to Ostroh Academy.
Huculak’s cooperation with the academy began in 2007 with a joint project – the construction of a new university building. It will be erected in downtown Ostroh on the site of a building (Civic House) whose construction began during the Soviet period, but for lack of funding was never completed. Ostroh Academy developed a project to convert this unfinished structure to a university building, and the construction was launched in the fall of 2007.
The exterior of the new building will combine contemporary trends and medieval architectural traditions reflecting the academy’s motto: “Contemporary education through centuries of experience.” A square will be laid out in front of the building and will bear the name of Herasym and Meletii Smotrytsky, great Ukrainian enlighteners who have yet to be adequately appreciated by our fellow countrymen. The architectural ensemble will also include the Erast and Yarmila Huculak Tower in honor of the university’s donors.
“Thanks to the help provided by the Huculaks, the construction of our building will continue. It is our great desire that rich Ukrainians follow their example and realize that Ostroh Academy is truly a center of education, culture, and spirituality. Erast and Yarmila Huculak have once again confirmed the great truth: if a person gives to others, God will repay him or her hundredfold,” said Ihor Pasichnyk, the rector of Ostroh Academy.
