OBITUARY: Dr. Miroslav Labunka, 76, retired professor of history (01/18/04)

OBITUARY

Dr. Miroslav Labunka, 76, retired professor of history

PHILADELPHIA - Miroslav Labunka, retired associate professor of history at LaSalle University, died suddenly on December 2, 2003, at Albert Einstein Medical Center. He was 76.

Born in Kotiv, Ukraine, on March 23, 1927, he attended secondary school in Ukraine and Germany, and completed his secondary school education by receiving his Abitur Diploma through the auspices of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in Traunstein, Germany.

He attended theological seminary in Hirschberg, Germany, and Culemborg, Holland, earning a B.A. in philosophy and theology. He received a master's in history in 1955 at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, and then emigrated to the United States in 1955, settling in New York City. He earned a master in library science in 1958 at Columbia University and worked in the Columbia University Libraries from 1956 to 1965. Later, he received his Ph.D. in history at Columbia University in 1978.

In 1965, he and his family relocated to Philadelphia, where he joined the faculty at LaSalle College. He was an associate professor of history and retired in 1993. During his time at LaSalle, he was also a visiting professor at St. Clement's Ukrainian Catholic University in Rome from 1976 to 1995; and research associate at the Harvard University Ukrainian Research Institute and visiting professor at the Philosophical Institute of the Ukrainian Free University in Munich, Germany, from 1982 to 1993.

In 1993 he was named dean at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Ukrainian Free University. He was appointed rector in 1995, a post he held until 1998.

In 1998 Prof. Labunka was awarded knighthood by Pope John Paul II, Equitus OSGM (Order of St. Gregory the Great) for his lifetime of work and dedication to the Ukrainian Catholic Church, and also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Ukraine's Ministry of Education for his significant contribution to Ukrainian culture and education.

His professional memberships included: the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences (USA), the American Association of College and University Professors, the International Association of Ukrainian Scholars, the Shevchenko Scientific Society (USA), the Ukrainian Association of Journalists (USA), and the Association of Ukrainian Librarians (USA).

He was also an active member of Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization, where he was a co-founder of the "Orden Chrestonostsiv" fraternity and the St. Sophia Religious Association of Ukrainian Catholics (Rome Branch); and was a board member of the Ukrainian Patriarchal Society (USA) and the Association of Parents and Teachers of Ukrainian Secondary Schools (Philadelphia).

In 1988 Prof. Labunka was the sponsor of an honorary doctorate at LaSalle University for Cardinal Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky; in 1992 he co-sponsored an honorary doctorate, also at LaSalle, for Leonid Kravchuk, then president of Ukraine; and in 1996, he co-sponsored honorary doctorates at the Ukrainian Free University for Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and Archbishop Myroslav Marusyn, secretary of the Congregation of Eastern Churches.

Also in 1988, under the aegis of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, Prof. Labunka, along with his colleagues Profs. Omeljan Pritsak and Ihor Sevcenko of Harvard University, co-organized an International Congress commemorating the Millennium of Christianity in Rus'-Ukraine. The congress was held in Ravenna, Italy, and was marked by the attendance of pre-eminent scholars from throughout the world, including the Soviet Union.

Due to the generosity of the Millennium of Rus'-Ukraine Christianity Committee in New York, the proceedings of the congress were subsequently published under the editorship of Profs. Pritsak, Sevcenko and Labunka as a special issue of the scholarly journal Harvard Ukrainian Studies.

Prof. Labunka was a specialist in Eastern European medieval history and published numerous articles on the subject. He was the author of a monograph on the "Legend of the Novgorodian White Cow," which was published in 1998 at the Ukrainian Free University in Munich through the generosity of Dr. Wolodymyr and Anna Rak, benefactors.

He leaves behind two sons, Alex with his wife, Luba and Illia, with his wife, Olenka; a daughter, Iya; and three grandchildren, Matthew, Andrew and Nina. He also leaves behind a sister, Marusia, in Ukraine. He had recently remarried following the death seven years ago of his wife, Maria nee Rovenchuk. They had been married 44 years.

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