View source for Kateryna Yushchenko

{{Short description|Former First Lady of Ukraine}}
{{for|the Ukrainian computer and information research scientist|Kateryna Yushchenko (scientist)}}
{{family name hatnote|Mykhaylivna|Yushchenko|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Infobox First Lady
| name                = Kateryna Yushchenko
| image               = Kateryna Yushchenko2.jpg
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1961|9|1}}
| birth_place         = [[Chicago, Illinois]], U.S.
| occupation          = 
| term_label1         = In role
| order1              = [[First Lady of Ukraine]]
| term_start1         = 23 January 2005
| term_end1           = 25 February 2010
| president1          = [[Viktor Yushchenko]]
| predecessor1        = [[Lyudmyla Kuchma]]
| successor1          = [[Lyudmyla Yanukovych]]
| alma_mater          = [[Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service]]<br> [[Georgetown University]] <br> [[University of Chicago]]|
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Viktor Yushchenko]]|1998}}
| children            = 3
| relations           = 
| birth_name          = Catherine Claire Chumachenko<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sneed |first1=Michael |title=How Chicago taught Ukraine's former first lady to have hope |url= https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/3/11/22972056/kateryna-yushchenko-viktor-ukraine-war-russia-humboldt-park-vladimir-putin-kyiv-army-orthodox-church |website=Chicago Sun-Times |access-date=24 May 2022 |language=en |date=11 March 2022}}</ref>
| native_name_lang    = uk
| native_name         = {{nobold|Катерина Ющенко}}
| caption             = Yushchenko in 2008
}}

'''Kateryna Mykhaylivna Yushchenko'''{{efn|{{langx|uk|Катерина Михайлівна Ющенко|{{transliteration|uk|ukrainian|Kateryna Mykhailivna Yushchenko}}}}}} (born '''Catherine Claire Chumachenko''',{{efn|{{langx|uk|Чумаченко|{{transliteration|uk|ukrainian|Chumachenko}}}}}} September 1, 1961) is an American-born [[Ukrainian people|Ukrainian]] politician and philanthropist who was the [[First Lady of Ukraine]] from 2005 to 2010. She is married to President [[Viktor Yushchenko]].

==Family==
Yushchenko's father, Mykhailo Chumachenko, was born in the village of {{ill|Zaitsivka|uk|Зайцівка}}, [[Kharkiv Oblast]] in 1917 to a large family of farmers. He was one of only a few members of his large family to survive the [[Holodomor|Soviet Famine]] of 1932–1933. Chumachenko studied electrical engineering in [[Lysychansk]], Luhansk Oblast. He served in the [[Soviet Army]], and was captured by [[Nazi Germany|German]] forces and taken to Germany in 1942.

Yushchenko's mother, Sofia Chumachenko, was born in [[Litky, Kyiv Oblast|Litky]], [[Kyiv Oblast]], in 1927, and died 30 September 2012 in [[Kyiv]]. Along with many other young women of her village, Sofia Chumachenko was taken to [[Nazi Germany]] at the age of 14 to serve as a slave laborer, shortly after the [[invasion of the Soviet Union]].

Kateryna Yushchenko’s parents met in Germany, married, and gave birth to her sister, Lydia, in 1945. Mykhailo Chumachenko became seriously ill with [[tuberculosis]] in 1945 and spent eight years in a tuberculosis sanatorium.

In 1956, the Chumachenko family immigrated to the [[United States]] on an invitation from the [[Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA|Ukrainian Orthodox Church]] in [[Chicago]]. Mykhailo Chumachenko worked as an electrician in Chicago until his retirement in 1984. The Chumachenkos moved to [[Florida]] in 1987. Chumachenko visited his native Ukraine three times, in 1991, 1994 and 1995. His dream was to return to his village and start a small farm. He died in 1998 and is buried in Kyiv.

==Biography==
[[Image:BushYushchenkoWH2.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Kateryna Yushchenko with her husband [[Viktor Yushchenko]], [[George W. Bush]] and [[Laura Bush]], April 4, 2005 (the [[East Room]] of the [[White House]])]]
Kateryna Yushchenko was born '''Catherine Claire Chumachenko''' in Chicago to immigrants from the [[Left-bank Ukraine]]. She is a former [[U.S. State Department]] official. She worked as a special assistant to the [[Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs]]. She holds a bachelor's degree in International Economics from the [[Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service]] at [[Georgetown University]] (1982), and an [[MBA]] from the [[University of Chicago Graduate School of Business]] (1986).

She later worked in the [[White House]] in the Office of Public Liaison during the administration of [[Ronald Reagan]]. Subsequently, she worked at the [[U.S. Treasury]] in the executive secretary's office during the administration of [[George H. W. Bush]]. After leaving that position, she was on the staff of the Joint Economic Committee of the [[United States Congress]]. After Ukraine declared its freedom, she was a co-founder and the vice-president of Ukraine-USA Foundation. She was also the director of [[Pylyp Orlyk]] Institute. In 1993, she joined [[KPMG]] Peat Marwick/Barents Group as a consultant in its Bank Training Program and Country Manager, where she met Viktor Yushchenko, whom she subsequently married. She left her job in August 2000, when she was expecting her second child.

Yushchenko is now involved in numerous charitable projects with the Ukraine 3000 International Foundation  that she chairs.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Kateryna Yushchenko's Biography {{!}} Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Fund|url = http://www.ukraine3000.org.ua/eng/management/supervisoryboard/bio.html|website = www.ukraine3000.org.ua|accessdate = 2015-12-17}}</ref> The key priority of the Foundation is better health for Ukraine’s children. On the Supervisory Board of Ukraine 3000 Foundation, established in 2001, are some of Ukraine’s most prominent educational, humanitarian, cultural, literary and sports figures. President Victor Yushchenko served as Chairman of the Supervisory Council until his inauguration in 2005. Since then, its Chairman is Kateryna Yushchenko. All programs and projects of the Foundation are implemented within three major areas: "Ukraine Yesterday", "Ukraine Today" and "Ukraine Tomorrow". The biggest projects of the Foundation are the "Hospital to Hospital" program, the construction and support of the "Children's Hospital of the Future" and "The Joy of Childhood – Free Movements" program.

==Ukrainian politics==
Opponents of her husband criticized her for remaining a U.S. citizen. During the [[2004 Ukrainian presidential election]] campaign, she was accused of exerting the influence of the U.S. government on her husband's decisions, as an employee of the U.S. government or even a [[Central Intelligence Agency]] agent.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Even as private citizen, Kateryna Yushchenko finds criticism remains|url = http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/even-as-private-citizen-kateryna-yushchenko-finds--66004.html|website = KyivPost| date=6 May 2010 |accessdate = 2015-12-17}}</ref> She had earlier been accused by [[Russia]]n television journalist [[Mikhail Leontyev]] of leading a U.S. project to help Yushchenko seize power in Ukraine; in January 2002, she won a libel case against him. Ukraine's pro-government [[Inter (TV channel)|Inter television channel]] repeated Leontyev's allegations in 2001, but in January 2003 she won a libel case against the channel as well. 

==Personal life==
She is married to [[Viktor Yushchenko]] and has three children: Sofia, Khrystyna, and Taras. She became a Ukrainian citizen in 2005, and in 2007, she renounced her US citizenship. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2008/05/23/3447154/|title=Як Катерина Ющенко виходила з громадянства Америки|website=Українська правда}}</ref>

==Honours==
*{{flag|Latvia}}:
**[[File:LVA Order of the Three Stars - Commander BAR.svg|70px]] Commander Grand Cross of the [[Order of the Three Stars]] (19 June 2008)
*{{Flag|Malta}}:
**[[File:MLT Xirka Gieh ir-Repubblika BAR.svg|70x70px]] Honorary Member of the [[Xirka Ġieħ ir-Repubblika]] (9 July 2008)
==Awards==
*Special award from Children of Chornobyl Relief and Development Foundation, April 26, 2006
*Golden Pyramid Award, UNESCO, November 2005
*Medal of Prince Vasyl-Kostyantyn Ostrozky from Ostroh Academy, October 2005
*Distinguished Public Service/Public Sector Alumni Award from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, October 2005
*Honorary Professor of the Kyiv Mohyla Kollegium Gymnasium, February 2007

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-dec-29-fg-kateryna29-story.html Profile], latimes.com, December 29, 2004. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20080130033500/http://www.yuschenko.com.ua/eng/present/Mass_media/984 archived])
* [http://www.ukraine3000.org.ua/eng/aboutfund.html The Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation]

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{{succession box | title=[[First Lady of Ukraine]] | before=[[Lyudmyla Kuchma]] | after=[[Lyudmyla Yanukovych]] | years=2005–2010 }}
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{{First Ladies of Ukraine}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yushchenko, Kateryna}}
[[Category:1961 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American emigrants to Ukraine]]
[[Category:American people of Ukrainian descent]]
[[Category:Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni]]
[[Category:University of Chicago Booth School of Business alumni]]
[[Category:People from Chicago]]
[[Category:First ladies of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of Ukraine]]
[[Category:People who renounced United States citizenship]]
[[Category:Yushchenko family|Kateryna]]