Ukrainians who made a significant contribution to building America
Ukrainians who made a significant contribution to building America
- Ivan Bohdan – considered the first known Ukrainian immigrant in British America, who arrived in Jamestown in 1608 with John Smith.
- Ukrainian soldiers in George Washington’s army – people with Ukrainian surnames (such as Ivan Mokh, Petro Polyn, Ivan Ottaman) served in the Continental Army during the American War of Independence.
- Ivan Makohon – one of the first emigrants from Galicia to the United States (1860s); he became an editor of the Ukrainian‑language weekly “America” and an organizer of cooperative stores, helping Ukrainian workers integrate and self‑organize economically.
- Lazar (Louis B.) Mayer – founder and long‑time head of the Metro‑Goldwyn‑Mayer (MGM) film studio; born in the town of Dymer near Kyiv, he became one of the people who created Hollywood as the center of the global film industry.
- Steve Ditko – American comic book artist and writer of Ukrainian descent, co‑creator of Spider‑Man and Doctor Strange at Marvel Comics, whose characters became icons of American popular culture.
- Andy Warhol (Andrew Warhola) – legendary American artist of Lemko‑Ukrainian origin, one of the founders of pop art, who profoundly influenced visual culture, design, and advertising in the United States.
- Kvitka Cisyk – American singer of Ukrainian origin who worked in advertising, film, and popular music; her voice was used in major U.S. advertising campaigns and film soundtracks.
- Larry King – one of the most famous American TV hosts and interviewers, whose father came from Kolomyia in western Ukraine; he shaped the standard format of television interviews for decades.
- Carl Sagan – outstanding American astronomer and science popularizer whose parents were immigrants from today’s Ukraine; he became one of the symbols of the U.S. space age and science communication.
- Lubomyr Romankiw – scientist and engineer born in Zhovkva, western Ukraine, who became a leading researcher at IBM and invented key types of magnetic heads for data recording in computers, which enabled modern high‑capacity hard disk drives.
- Ukrainian engineers and scientists in NASA and U.S. industry – many specialists of Ukrainian origin contributed to American aerospace, information technology, medicine, and biotechnology, strengthening the scientific and technological potential of the United States.
- Viktoria Spartz – the first member of the U.S. Congress born in independent Ukraine; elected to the House of Representatives from Indiana, actively involved in issues of security, transatlantic cooperation, and support for Ukraine.
- Community leaders and early immigrants – from the late 19th century Ukrainian immigrants built churches, schools, community centers, and credit unions, created educational and cultural organizations, and thus helped develop local economies and civil society in many American cities (Chicago, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and others).
- Ed Irving Koch (Edward Irving Koch) – American politician, congressman (1969 – 1977), three-time mayor of New York (1978 -1989), lawyer, writer, film critic. He was born in the Bronx, New York, on December 12, 1924, in a family of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, Yeta and Lewis Koch (probably Koch, but in the USA their surname changed slightly, as is often the case). Unfortunately, all that is known about our hero’s parents is that they came to the USA from the village of Ustechko in the Ternopil region (now the village of Ustechko in the Tovsten settlement community of the Chortkiv district of the Ternopil region).
