Yuri Hreshchyshyn, 64, tireless volunteer, pillar of the local Ukrainian community

“You embody everything good about our community,” now-retired Rep. Brian Higgins declared in December when he paid tribute to Yuri Hreshchyshyn on the floor of the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Hreshchyshyn gave his support, his sweat and his vision to numerous community improvement and development initiatives. He played his most prominent role, however, as a pillar of the local Ukrainian community.

The son of Ukrainian immigrants and longtime president of the Buffalo chapter of the Ukrainian American Congress of America, he diligently promoted Ukraine and its culture while developing affinities with the General Pulaski Association and other Eastern European groups locally.

He put together a Buffalo contingent to serve as international election inspectors in Ukraine’s elections in 2014 and again in 2019, when current President Volodymyr Zelenskyy won.

“I got, as always, some friends interested in taking the trip with me,” Mr. Hreshchyshyn told an interviewer in 2019, “and this time around, it’s five of us.”

Following the Russian invasion in 2022, he led fundraising efforts and assembled numerous shipments of aid to the beleaguered nation. He also helped bring Ukrainian families here after they were displaced by the war. One of those families were his cousins. He arranged for them to live in his mother’s house in Williamsville.

For his efforts, the Ukrainian World Congress awarded him its St. Volodymyr the Great Medal in 2023 “for exceptional contribution to the development of Ukrainian life in the diaspora and the development of the Ukraine.”

He continued his efforts until shortly before he died April 8 at the age of 64 after a lengthy illness. He had organized a rally in support of aid to Ukraine in Niagara Square on March 3.

Expressions of appreciation for him and his work for Ukraine and the community poured in following his death.

Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz and State Sen. Sean Ryan hailed him as a leader on X, formerly Twitter. Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper noted on Instagram that he inspired many as a volunteer. On a memorial page, a friend wrote: “Yuri provided an unparalleled, tireless example of what it truly means to be of service to others.”

Born in Buffalo, Yuri B. Hreshchyshyn was the eldest of five children and the son of Dr. Myroslaw Hreshchyshyn and Lidia Warekha Hreshchyshyn.

His father, who came to Buffalo in 1957, was a medical scientist and professor of gynecologic oncology and obstetrics at the University at Buffalo Medical School. He introduced the use of chemotherapy in gynecological oncology in the U.S. in the 1960s.

His parents maintained close contact with relatives in their homeland and were active in the Ukrainian community locally. Mr. Hreshchyshyn and his siblings spent Saturdays as children in lessons on Ukrainian culture, language and dance.

He was a 1977 graduate of Amherst Central High School, where he was a member of the Computer Club, and earned a bachelor’s degree from UB.

He worked for a time as a paramedic for Gold Cross Ambulance Service. He later joined the staff of the Erie County Department of Social Services and became an inspector in 2007.

A South Buffalo resident with a home on the banks of the Buffalo River, he was an Erie County Democratic committeeman and was active with the Buffalo Cooperative Federal Credit Union.

The longest-serving director on the board of the Central Terminal Restoration Corp., he did volunteer maintenance work for 20 years and manned a payloader to install trees along the promenade leading to the terminal.

He also planted trees with numerous community groups, helped build community gardens and cleaned up vacant lots. He taught young people how to cut grass and trim shrubbery.

He had an abiding interest in civic initiatives. He contributed a design for expansion of the Peace Bridge, suggested a trolley route through the Cobblestone District using abandoned railroad tracks and advised officials on Buffalo’s Green Code.

Mr. Hreshchyshyn was a volunteer for the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County, the East Side Garden Walk Committee and the annual Buffalo News Kids Day. He also was the contact for Buffalo’s two Sister Cities in Ukraine, Drohobych and Horlivka.

Survivors include three sisters, Marta Hreshchyshyn, Nadia McQuiggan and Kusia Hreshchyshyn; a brother, Adrian; his best friend, Allison Robinson; her children, Tyler and Alexis; and several nieces and nephews.

A funeral liturgy will be offered at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, 308 Fillmore Ave.