Yaroslav Bilinsky *58

Yaroslav died in Newark, Del., Sept. 16, 2024, after a brief illness.

He was born Feb. 26, 1932, in Lutsk, Ukraine. He immigrated to the United States with his mother in 1951. Yaroslav graduated from Harvard in 1954 and earned a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton in 1958.

He taught at Rutgers from 1958 to 1961 and went on to his second and final teaching position in the University of Delaware’s political science department. After 41 years at Delaware, he retired in 2002.

Yaroslav’s books included The Second Soviet Republic: Ukraine after World War II; Russian Dissenters and the Nationality Question and Changes in the Central Committee: Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1961-1966. One of his greatest desires was to see Ukraine join NATO.

He was a member of various political science and Ukrainian organizations. One of his most treasured memories was attending then-Vice President Joe Biden’s Christmas party at the Naval Observatory in 2011.

Yaroslav was predeceased by his wife, Wira, and his son, Peter. He is survived by his daughters, Sophia and Nadia; son Mark; and eight grandchildren.

Graduate alumni memorials are prepared by the APGA.