Peter Potichnyj

Peter Joseph Potichnyj (; June 2, 1930 – June 3, 2026) was a Ukrainian-born American and Canadian political scientist and historian. Potichnyj had been professor emeritus of political science at McMaster University since 2013; he previously served as professor of political science there from 1964. He was also the former dean of law and political science at the Ukrainian Free University, as well as co-editor of the Litopys UPA series. The Potichnyj family had its roots in the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, and a branch of the family was part of the Hungarian bourgeois class by the 18th century. Potichnyj's branch, which was impoverished, moved to Pawłokoma. On his paternal side, his family was regarded as being Polish due to their belief in Roman Catholicism, while his maternal family belonged to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and was therefore considered Ukrainian. His father's conversion to Greek Catholicism led to harassment by the government of the Second Polish Republic, leading Potichnyj to develop a Ukrainian nationalist attitude at a young age.

Potichnyj studied at the Lwów Academic Gymnasium, graduating in 1944.