Obituary for Walter Anastas
Walter Anastas (b. Volodymyr Anastasievsky) was a Ukrainian-American lawyer, academic, veteran, refugee, human rights advocate, polyglot, and a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He passed away peacefully at home in Roseville, Minnesota on April 24, 2021, at the age of 90.
Walter was born in Mława, Poland on December 14, 1930 to Mykola Anastasievsky, a Ukrainian landscape painter and art professor, and Sofia Anastasievsky, an actress in regional folk theater. He was raised between the town of Yavoriv, in Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains, and Kholm (Chelm) in Eastern Poland until becoming displaced during the Second World War. Walter survived the oppressive brutality of both the Nazi and the Soviet totalitarian regimes. After the war, Walter attended a trilingual Ukrainian gymnasium (secondary school) in Berchtesgaden, Germany. His first employment was as a translator between English, Polish, and German personnel on the front lines of the Berlin Airlift at Frankfurt am Main, where he conveyed messages between truck drivers carrying supplies for delivery to Berlin and loadmasters who packed the aircraft (1948-49). The Anastasievsky family emigrated to Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1950.
After arriving in the United States, Walter volunteered for the United States Army during the Korean War, where he worked in military intelligence at Fort Meade, Maryland (1951-53). At that time, Walter abbreviated his surname to Anastas. He became a citizen of the United States in 1953, a path that was accelerated because of his military service. Subsequent to his discharge, Walter received a bachelor’s degree in business administration under the G.I. Bill, from the University of Minnesota, where he was first in his class. He graduated with distinction in 1956 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Walter then received his Juris Doctor from William Mitchell College of Law in 1964, where he was also first in his graduating class. After a year of practice with a Minneapolis law firm, Walter returned to William Mitchell as the Louis W. Hill Professor of Corporate Law, where he taught courses in corporations, securities law, and allied courses for twenty years, retiring in 1985. Walter was also proud to have completed several summers of LLM coursework in Corporate Law at New York University School of Law in the late 1960s. In addition to his academic service, he worked in private legal practice, serving the Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, and Jewish communities in the Twin Cities. He married his wife, Julia, on October 6, 1957 and together they had two children, Walter, Jr. and Natalie (Natalka).
Over the course of his lifetime, Walter was actively involved in numerous bar association, immigration, community service, and human rights activities and organizations. He was a longtime member and former president of the Dnipro Chorus (Khor Dnipro), a Ukrainian diaspora community choir. Walter also served as legal counsel to the founders of the Ukrainian American Community Center in Minneapolis, MN in 1964. While Walter’s activities in service of the Ukrainian community are far too numerous to list, a highlight of this work includes hosting Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of Ukraine, on an official visit to Minnesota in 1992. His lifetime of commitment to Ukrainian and broader Eastern European immigrant causes in the Twin Cities established him as a pillar of the diaspora community.
Walter’s humanitarian legal service took him to Israel as representative of the Ukrainian American Bar Association in 1986-87 to monitor the trial of John Demjanjuk for Nazi war crimes. This work also took him to Ukraine as an advisor in the drafting of the Constitution of Ukraine, immediately following the country’s independence from the USSR in 1992. Reflecting his dedication to promoting cultural understanding, Walter served as a long-time member on the board of the Friends of the Immigration History Research Center and Archives (IHRC/A) at the University of Minnesota, the oldest and largest interdisciplinary research center and archives devoted to preserving and understanding immigrant and refugee life in North America. In 2015, that same organization conferred Walter with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his many years of service.
Walter is survived by his wife of 63 years, Julia, children Walter (Luda) Anastazievsky and Natalie (Marko) Jachtorowycz, and four cherished grandchildren—Sophia, Irene (Irka), Matthew (Matvij), and Thomas (Tomczyk). He will be remembered and honored for his legacy of limitless intellectual curiosity, his memorable and understated sense of humor, his commitment to preserving Ukrainian history and heritage and promoting freedom and democracy in Ukraine, and, above all, his unending love for his family, especially his grandchildren.
Visitation at Kozlak-Radulovich Chapel (1918 University Ave. NE) Friday, April 30, 2021 from 5-8 PM with Vigil Prayers (Panachyda) at 7 PM followed by family remarks. Panachyda & family remarks will be live streamed at the link below.
PLEASE RSVP for the visitation using the RSVP button below.
Requiem Divine Liturgy at St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church (515 University Ave. NE) Saturday, May 1, 2021 at 10 AM with visitation one half hour prior. Interment Gethsemane Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials preferred to Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation, Friends of the Immigration History Research Center (IHRC/A) or St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church.
Walter was born in Mława, Poland on December 14, 1930 to Mykola Anastasievsky, a Ukrainian landscape painter and art professor, and Sofia Anastasievsky, an actress in regional folk theater. He was raised between the town of Yavoriv, in Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains, and Kholm (Chelm) in Eastern Poland until becoming displaced during the Second World War. Walter survived the oppressive brutality of both the Nazi and the Soviet totalitarian regimes. After the war, Walter attended a trilingual Ukrainian gymnasium (secondary school) in Berchtesgaden, Germany. His first employment was as a translator between English, Polish, and German personnel on the front lines of the Berlin Airlift at Frankfurt am Main, where he conveyed messages between truck drivers carrying supplies for delivery to Berlin and loadmasters who packed the aircraft (1948-49). The Anastasievsky family emigrated to Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1950.
After arriving in the United States, Walter volunteered for the United States Army during the Korean War, where he worked in military intelligence at Fort Meade, Maryland (1951-53). At that time, Walter abbreviated his surname to Anastas. He became a citizen of the United States in 1953, a path that was accelerated because of his military service. Subsequent to his discharge, Walter received a bachelor’s degree in business administration under the G.I. Bill, from the University of Minnesota, where he was first in his class. He graduated with distinction in 1956 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Walter then received his Juris Doctor from William Mitchell College of Law in 1964, where he was also first in his graduating class. After a year of practice with a Minneapolis law firm, Walter returned to William Mitchell as the Louis W. Hill Professor of Corporate Law, where he taught courses in corporations, securities law, and allied courses for twenty years, retiring in 1985. Walter was also proud to have completed several summers of LLM coursework in Corporate Law at New York University School of Law in the late 1960s. In addition to his academic service, he worked in private legal practice, serving the Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, and Jewish communities in the Twin Cities. He married his wife, Julia, on October 6, 1957 and together they had two children, Walter, Jr. and Natalie (Natalka).
Over the course of his lifetime, Walter was actively involved in numerous bar association, immigration, community service, and human rights activities and organizations. He was a longtime member and former president of the Dnipro Chorus (Khor Dnipro), a Ukrainian diaspora community choir. Walter also served as legal counsel to the founders of the Ukrainian American Community Center in Minneapolis, MN in 1964. While Walter’s activities in service of the Ukrainian community are far too numerous to list, a highlight of this work includes hosting Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of Ukraine, on an official visit to Minnesota in 1992. His lifetime of commitment to Ukrainian and broader Eastern European immigrant causes in the Twin Cities established him as a pillar of the diaspora community.
Walter’s humanitarian legal service took him to Israel as representative of the Ukrainian American Bar Association in 1986-87 to monitor the trial of John Demjanjuk for Nazi war crimes. This work also took him to Ukraine as an advisor in the drafting of the Constitution of Ukraine, immediately following the country’s independence from the USSR in 1992. Reflecting his dedication to promoting cultural understanding, Walter served as a long-time member on the board of the Friends of the Immigration History Research Center and Archives (IHRC/A) at the University of Minnesota, the oldest and largest interdisciplinary research center and archives devoted to preserving and understanding immigrant and refugee life in North America. In 2015, that same organization conferred Walter with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his many years of service.
Walter is survived by his wife of 63 years, Julia, children Walter (Luda) Anastazievsky and Natalie (Marko) Jachtorowycz, and four cherished grandchildren—Sophia, Irene (Irka), Matthew (Matvij), and Thomas (Tomczyk). He will be remembered and honored for his legacy of limitless intellectual curiosity, his memorable and understated sense of humor, his commitment to preserving Ukrainian history and heritage and promoting freedom and democracy in Ukraine, and, above all, his unending love for his family, especially his grandchildren.
Visitation at Kozlak-Radulovich Chapel (1918 University Ave. NE) Friday, April 30, 2021 from 5-8 PM with Vigil Prayers (Panachyda) at 7 PM followed by family remarks. Panachyda & family remarks will be live streamed at the link below.
PLEASE RSVP for the visitation using the RSVP button below.
Requiem Divine Liturgy at St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church (515 University Ave. NE) Saturday, May 1, 2021 at 10 AM with visitation one half hour prior. Interment Gethsemane Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials preferred to Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation, Friends of the Immigration History Research Center (IHRC/A) or St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church.