Julian Edward Kulas, Esq., passed away surrounded by his family on Friday, August 7, 2026 at the age of 93.

Beloved husband of the late Elizabeth "Liza".  Loving father of Jerry (Melissa) Kulas, Paul (Kateryna) Kulas  and Lilia (Michael) Zaparaniuk.  Cherished grandfather of Nicholas Kulas, Tania Zaparaniuk, Elyssa (Ray) Borja, Marc (Kalyna) Zaparaniuk, Philip (Devon) Kulas, Christopher Kulas and Nina Kulas.  Fond great-grandfather of Julianna Borja, Milo Kulas and Evan Borja with a fourth expected very soon.    Dearest brother of Myron and Severa; preceded in death by Oscar and Jerry.

Visitation will be held inside Sts. Volodymyr & Olha Ukrainian Catholic Church (2245 W. Superior Street at N. Oakley Boulevard; Chicago, 60612)  on Tuesday, August 11  from  4-8 P.M.   A Panakhyda ( Ukrainian Prayer Service ) will be conducted at 7 P.M.  Those unable to Attend may livestream the service via the church's YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/live/rp-ZW_ELDFQ?is=OluFxWzKldph4gC5 .

Funeral will start at 10:30 A.M. on Wednesday, August 12 ( inside Sts. Volodymyr & Olha Ukrainian Catholic Church).  Please park in the parking lot accessible on W. Superior Street.                     Following the Funeral Service, a procession will take Mr. Kulas to St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery; Chicago, where a Committal Service will be held graveside.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America ( UCCA ) Humanitarian Aid Fund, which Julian served by chairing two of its conventions;  or to  Unbroken, the national rehabilitation center in Lviv, Ukraine caring for wounded Ukrainians.

UCCA:  https://ucca.org/donate/  

Unbroken National Rehabilitation Center in Lviv:  https://unbroken.org.ua/donate 

      Julian E. Kulas, was a Chicago lawyer, banker and U.S. Army Reserves colonel who devoted his life to the Ukrainian community he loved and the country that gave him refuge.     Born in the village of Boratyn in Ukraine, he survived World War II and years in a displaced persons camp in Germany before coming to the United States America as a boy.  His family settled in Chicago's Ukrainian Village in the early 1950s, and he arrived with little money and less English.

     Over the decades that followed, he built one of the most consequential records of civic service in the neighborhood's history.  He earned his Law degree from DePaul University, joined the Illinois Bar in 1958, and opened the firm of Kulas & Kulas to serve immigrant families.  In 1964 he rebuilt a failing savings and loan into First Security Federal Savings Bank, which grew to nearly $500 million in assets and financed the homes and businesses that held Ukrainian Village together.  He rose to colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, served as legal counsel to the Ukrainian Consulate in Chicago, was named the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America's Man of the Year in 1989, and received the Order of Merit of Ukraine.  In 1980 he gained national attention as the attorney for Walter Polovchak, the young Ukrainian boy known as "the littlest defector".  A lifelong member of the American Ukrainian Youth Association and a devoted soccer man, he was inducted into the Illinois State Soccer Association Hall of Fame and the Ukrainian Sports Hall of Fame.

Memory Eternal !