Orest Subtelny

Orest Subtelny (, 17 May 1941 – 24 July 2016) was a Ukrainian-Canadian historian.

Born in Kraków, Poland, he received his doctorate from Harvard University in 1973. From 1982 to 2015, he was a Professor in the Departments of History and Political Science at York University in Toronto.

Early life Orest Subtelny was born in Kraków, General Government, on 17 May 1941. His father, Myroslav, was a lawyer who had lived in the city in the mid-1930s and returned with his wife, Ivanna, in late August 1939 to take a government job. The following day, Germany invaded, forcing the family to return to Ukraine but Orest's mother returned to Kraków to give birth to her son because the city had a hospital.

The family spent World War II in western Ukraine, then fled the country after the arrival of the Soviet Army. Between 1945 and 1949 they were in a displaced persons camp in Germany before settling in the United States in Philadelphia as refugees. His adviser was Oleksander Ohloblyn while his interpretation was influenced by Omeljan Pritsak.

Subtelny started his teaching career in the History Department of Harvard (1973-1975), later moving to the Hamilton College in New York (1975-1982). In 1982, he became Professor of History and Politics at York University in Toronto where he taught until his retirement in 2015. The funeral was held at St. Demetrius Ukrainian Catholic Church; he was interred at Park Lawn Cemetery.

Awards Antonovych Foundation Prize for the monograph: "The Mazepists: Ukrainian Separatism in the 18th century" (1983)

Selected books and publications The Mazepists: Ukrainian Separatism in the Early Eighteenth Century (1981). The Domination of Eastern Europe, Foreign Absolutism and Native Nobilities (1986) Ukraine: A History (1988) Ukrainians in North America (1991) "Ukraine: The Imperial Heritage", Briefing Papers of the Canadian Bureau of International Studies (1996) "Cossacks", in The World Book Encyclopedia (1997) "Ukraine", in Encarta Encyclopedia (1997)