Kossar, Wladimir, 1890-1970 : Wladimir (Volodymyr) Kossar was born on November 23, 1890 in Rusyliw, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Ukraine). After completing high school in Lviv, he studied agriculture in 1909-1912 and then taught in an agricultural school in Mylovane in 1913-1914. He served in the Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces in 1912-1913 and again as an officer during the First World War in 1914-1918. He then served as an officer in the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 1918-1920. In 1920, he emigrated to Czechoslovakia and continued his studies. He worked as an agronomist and agricultural teacher in Lviv, Dubliany and Prague in 1921-1927. He married in 1922.
After his emigration to Canada in 1927, he worked on farms in Saskatchewan. In 1935 -1943 he was a research assistant in plant ecology at the University of Saskatchewan. He received his M.Sc. at the University of Saskatchewan in 1940. He moved to Winnipeg in 1943 to work full-time in Ukrainian community services. During the Second World War, he served in the Canadian Army Reserves in Saskatoon and Winnipeg from 1942 until 1948.
Wladimir Kossar was a member of the Ukrainian Military Organization. He was a founder of the Ukrainian War Veterans Association in 1928 and the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada (UNF) in 1932. He was President of the UNF from 1937 to 1953 and held executive positions at the national level in several Ukrainian Canadian organizations. He was one of the founders of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee (later Congress) in 1940 and was the vice-president and coordinator for fifteen years. He was also the founder of the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre Library and Museum in Winnipeg. He was active in the Ukrainian Canadian Veterans Association, Branch 141, Royal Canadian Legion. He was also for many years the Controller of the Ukrainian National Association, a fraternal organization with branches in Canada and the United States.
Throughout his career in Canada, Wladimir Kossar led the political struggle for the independence of Ukraine and sought to influence Canadian and international public opinion to support this goal.
He died in St. Catherines, Ontario on May 11, 1970.
