Kateryna Yushchenko

Last updated
Viktor Yushchenko
(m. 1998)
Kateryna Yushchenko
Катерина Ющенко
Yushchenko.jpg
Yushchenko in 2012
First Lady of Ukraine
In role
23 January 2005 25 February 2010
Children3
Alma mater Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Georgetown University
University of Chicago

Kateryna Mykhaylivna Yushchenko [lower-alpha 1] (born Catherine Claire Chumachenko, [lower-alpha 2] September 1, 1961) is an American-born Ukrainian politician and philanthropist who was the First Lady of Ukraine from 2005 to 2010.

Contents

Family

Yushchenko's father, Mykhailo Chumachenko, was born in the village of Zaitsivka  [ uk ], Kharkiv Oblast in 1917 to a large family of farmers. He was one of only a few members of his large family to survive the Soviet Famine of 1932–1933. Chumachenko studied electrical engineering in Lysychansk, Luhansk Oblast. He served in the Soviet Army, and was captured by German forces and taken to Germany in 1942.

Yushchenko's mother, Sofia Chumachenko, was born in Litky, Kyiv Oblast, in 1927, and died 30 September 2012 in Kyiv. Along with many other young women of her village, Sofia Chumachenko was taken to Nazi Germany at the age of 14 to serve as a slave laborer, shortly after the invasion of the Soviet Union.

Kateryna Yushchenko’s parents met in Germany, married, and gave birth to her sister, Lydia, in 1945. Mykhailo Chumachenko became seriously ill with tuberculosis in 1945 and spent eight years in a tuberculosis sanatorium.

In 1956, the Chumachenko family immigrated to the United States on an invitation from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Chicago. Mykhailo Chumachenko worked as an electrician in Chicago until his retirement in 1984. The Chumachenkos moved to Florida in 1987. Chumachenko visited his native Ukraine three times, in 1991, 1994 and 1995. His dream was to return to his village and start a small farm. He died in 1998 and is buried in Kyiv.

Biography

Kateryna Yushchenko with her husband Viktor Yushchenko, George W. Bush and Laura Bush, April 4, 2005 (the East Room of the White House) BushYushchenkoWH2.jpg
Kateryna Yushchenko with her husband Viktor Yushchenko, George W. Bush and Laura Bush, April 4, 2005 (the East Room of the White House)

Kateryna Yushchenko was born Catherine Claire Chumachenko in Chicago to immigrants from the Left-bank Ukraine. She is a former U.S. State Department official. She worked as a special assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. She holds a bachelor's degree in International Economics from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University (1982), and an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (1986).

She later worked in the White House in the Office of Public Liaison during the administration of Ronald Reagan. Subsequently, she worked at the U.S. Treasury in the executive secretary's office during the administration of George H. W. Bush. After leaving that position, she was on the staff of the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress. After Ukraine declared its freedom, she was a co-founder and the vice-president of Ukraine-USA Foundation. She was also the director of Pylyp Orlyk Institute. In 1993, she joined KPMG Peat Marwick/Barents Group as a consultant in its Bank Training Program and Country Manager, where she met Viktor Yushchenko, whom she subsequently married. She left her job in August 2000, when she was expecting her second child.

Yushchenko is now involved in numerous charitable projects with the Ukraine 3000 International Foundation that she chairs. [2] The key priority of the Foundation is better health for Ukraine’s children. On the Supervisory Board of Ukraine 3000 Foundation, established in 2001, are some of Ukraine’s most prominent educational, humanitarian, cultural, literary and sports figures. President Victor Yushchenko served as Chairman of the Supervisory Council until his inauguration in 2005. Since then, its Chairman is Kateryna Yushchenko. All programs and projects of the Foundation are implemented within three major areas: "Ukraine Yesterday", "Ukraine Today" and "Ukraine Tomorrow". The biggest projects of the Foundation are the "Hospital to Hospital" program, the construction and support of the "Children's Hospital of the Future" and "The Joy of Childhood – Free Movements" program.

Ukrainian politics

Opponents of her husband criticized her for remaining a U.S. citizen. During the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election campaign, she was accused of exerting the influence of the U.S. government on her husband's decisions, as an employee of the U.S. government or even a Central Intelligence Agency agent. [3] She had earlier been accused by Russian television journalist Mikhail Leontyev of leading a U.S. project to help Yushchenko seize power in Ukraine; in January 2002, she won a libel case against him. Ukraine's pro-government Inter television channel repeated Leontyev's allegations in 2001, but in January 2003 she won a libel case against the channel as well.

Personal life

She is married to Viktor Yushchenko and has three children: Sofia, Khrystyna, and Taras. She became a Ukrainian citizen in 2005, and in 2007, she renounced her US citizenship. [4]

Honours

Awards

Notes

  1. Ukrainian: Катерина Михайлівна Ющенко, romanized: Kateryna Mykhailivna Yushchenko
  2. Ukrainian: Чумаченко, romanized: Chumachenko

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viktor Yushchenko</span> President of Ukraine from 2005 to 2010

Viktor Andriiovych Yushchenko is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. He aimed to orient Ukraine towards the West, European Union and NATO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volodymyr Antonovych</span> Russian-Ukrainian historian

Volodymyr Bonifatiyovych Antonovych was a prominent Ukrainian historian, archivist and archaeologist, who was known as one of the most prominent figures of the Ukrainian national revival movement in the Russian Empire. Antonovych was a longtime Professor of Russian history at Saint Vladimir Imperial University of Kiev and a correspondent-member of the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Sciences. His main work was an edition of the eight-section Archives of South-Western Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masha Efrosynina</span> Ukrainian television director

Mariia Oleksandrivna Yefrosynina, professionally known as Masha Efrosynina, is a Ukrainian television host and media personality. Along with Pavlo Shylko, she hosted the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Interregional Academy of Personnel Management is a private higher education institution in Ukraine. Founded in 1989 as a non-state establishment, the MAUP consists of a preparatory department, a lyceum, a college, institutes, and a postgraduate school and has over 50,000 students in many branches throughout the country. Since 1991, MAUP has published the Personnel magazine and the Personnel Plus newspaper. In 2008, the U.S. State Department published its "Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism: A Report Provided to the United States Congress" and singled out MAUP when it stated the organization "is one of the most persistent anti-Semitic institutions in Eastern Europe."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mikhail Leontyev</span> Russian journalist and political commentator (born 1958)

Mikhail Vladimirovich Leontyev is a Russian political commentator currently working on national TV Channel One. He is known for his program "Odnako", irregularly appearing on air with commentaries on certain political occasions since March 1999. He is also a laureate of the "Golden pen of Russia" award and the TEFI award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Lady of Ukraine</span> Spouse of the President of Ukraine

First Lady of Ukraine is the unofficial title attributed to the wife of the president of Ukraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paraska Korolyuk</span> Ukrainian political activist

Paraska Vasylivna Korolyuk was a Ukrainian political activist and one of the iconic figures of Ukraine's 'Orange Revolution'. An enthusiastic supporter of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and of Yulia Tymoshenko, she became well-known after camping in the tent protests 'sit-ins' at Maidan Nezalezhnosti, which occurred during the Orange Revolution's entire duration, and for participating in various other political protests.

The Address programming language is one of the world's first high-level programming languages. It was created in 1955 by Kateryna Yushchenko. In particular, the Address programming language made possible indirect addressing and addresses of the highest rank – analogous to pointers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kateryna Yushchenko (scientist)</span> Ukrainian Soviet and Ukrainian computer scientist

Kateryna Lohvynivna Yushchenko was a Ukrainian computer and information research scientist, corresponding member of USSR Academy of Sciences (1976), and member of The International Academy of Computer Science. She developed one of the world's first high-level languages with indirect address in programming, called the Address programming language. Over the period of her academic career, Yushchenko supervised 47 Ph.D. students. Further professional achievements include Yushchenko being awarded two USSR State Prizes, The USSR Council of Ministers Prize, The Academician Glushkov Prize, and The Order of Princess Olga. Yushchenko was the first woman in the USSR to become a Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences in programming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryna Poroshenko</span> Former First Lady of Ukraine

Maryna Anatoliivna Poroshenko is a Ukrainian cardiologist who was the First Lady of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. She is married to former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. After her husband's presidency ended in 2019, Maryna was a local political candidate for elections in Kyiv.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kateryna Handziuk</span> Ukrainian activist (1985–2018)

Kateryna Viktorivna Handziuk was a Ukrainian civil rights and anti-corruption activist campaigner and political advisor, who exposed corruption in her hometown of Kherson. She was attacked with sulphuric acid on 31 July 2018, and died from her injuries on 4 November 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria-Ivanna Hrushevska</span> Spouse of Ukrainian political leader Mykhailo Hrushevsky

Maria-Ivanna Sylvestrivna Hrushevska was a spouse of Ukrainian political leader Mykhailo Hrushevsky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kateryna Zagoriy</span>

Kateryna Serhiivna Zagoriy is a Ukrainian media expert, philanthropist, former secretary of the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine, co-founder of the Zagoriy Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kateryna Pavlenko</span> Ukrainian singer, composer and folklorist

Kateryna Anatoliivna Pavlenko, also known as Monokate, is a Ukrainian singer, composer, and folklorist. She is the lead vocalist of the Ukrainian electro-folk band Go_A, who represented Ukraine at Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with their song "Solovey". After the cancellation of the contest due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they represented Ukraine again in 2021 with "Shum".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kateryna Osadcha</span> Ukrainian journalist (born 1983)

Kateryna Osadcha is a Ukrainian journalist, host of the programs "Social Life", "The Voice of Ukraine" and "The Voice Kids" on the TV channel "1+1".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kateryna Gornostai</span> Ukrainian filmmaker

Kateryna Gornostai is a Ukrainian film director, screenwriter and film editor. She is a jury member of the film festival Wiz-Art since 2014 and a member of the Ukrainian Film Academy since 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kateryna Antonovych</span> Ukrainian artist and illustrator

Kateryna Mykhaylivna Antonovych was a Ukrainian artist, children's book illustrator and professor of art history. She was active in Ukrainian women's and community organizations.

Kateryna Viktorivna Stupnytska was a sergeant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. She was posthumously honoured with the title Hero of Ukraine with the award of the Order of the Golden Star during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kateryna Rubchakova</span> Ukrainian actress and singer (1881–1919)

Kateryna Andriivna Rubchakova was a Ukrainian actress of universal transformation and a singer in lyrical soprano. Prima donna of the Galician Theater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kateryna Kalytko</span> Ukrainian poet, writer and translator (born 1982)

Kateryna Oleksandrivna Kalytko is a Ukrainian poet, writer and translator who is a member of the National Writers' Union of Ukraine since 2000 and PEN Ukraine. Her poetry is distinguished by intricate imagery, which frequently captures the associativeness of the poet and the tragedy of existence.

References

  1. Sneed, Michael (11 March 2022). "How Chicago taught Ukraine's former first lady to have hope". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  2. "Kateryna Yushchenko's Biography | Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Fund". www.ukraine3000.org.ua. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  3. "Even as private citizen, Kateryna Yushchenko finds criticism remains". KyivPost. 6 May 2010. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  4. "Як Катерина Ющенко виходила з громадянства Америки". Українська правда.
Honorary titles
Preceded by First Lady of Ukraine
2005–2010
Succeeded by