Thomas Karp Pavlychenko was born in the Ukraine in 1892, and studied at the Pedagogical Institute, the College of Agriculture Kamentz-Podilskiy, and the University of Prague, Czechoslovakia, prior to coming to Canada in 1927. In 1932 he received his MA. in Agriculture from the University of Saskatchewan. He continued his post-graduate education at the University of Nebraska, receiving his Ph.D. in 1940. From 1930-1937 he worked as a weed experimentalist for the National Research Council. In 1938 he established the first Department of Plant Ecology in Canada at the University of Saskatchewan, and served as head that department for 10 years. He was also the first professor of Ukrainian descent in Canada, and the courses in Ukrainian which he gave resulted in the establishment of the Department of Slavic Studies. Dr. Pavlychenko left the University in 1948 to accept a research position with the American Chemical Paint Company. He died on 6 August 1958 at the age of 66.