Victor O. Buyniak was born in Warsaw, Poland on 12 October 1925. He earned a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Alberta in 1954 and 1955 and a Ph.D. from the University of Ottawa in 1970. His academic awards include an University of Alberta Research Fellowship for 1954-1955 and an Associate Fellowship, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 1977. Buyniak was appointed Assistant Professor, Slavic Studies at the U of S in 1958 and rose through the ranks to become full Professor in 1973. In addition to his teaching and research activities, Buyniak has held several administrative posts on campus including: Head Slavic Studies, 1975-1981; Acting Head of Germanic Languages, 1975-1978; and Head of Germanic Languages, 1978-1982. His published work includes works in comparative literature, particularly, the literary reciprocity between Tolstoy and the Victorian novelists, Tolstoy's support of the Doukhobor movement, Ukrainian scholarship, and Taras Shevchenko. Buyniak has also served on the executive of several organizations including Canadian Association of Slavists, Central and Eastern European Studies Association of Canada, Saskatchewan Teachers of Ukrainian, and the Far Western Slavic Conference. Buyniak retired from the U of S in 1993. He passed away on March 29, 2013.