Andrii Sendziuk (MSB ’24), a recent graduate and founder of the Georgetown University Ukrainian Society (GUUS), died on Sept. 14 in New York, where he was working as an analyst for the Bank of America. He was buried on Sept. 26 in his hometown of Zalishchyky, Ukraine.
Sendziuk was born in Zalishchyky on July 17, 2002. He grew up there until 2018, when he won a scholarship to study at Prior Park College in the U.K. There, he finished his studies before coming to Georgetown for an undergraduate degree.
Studying at the MSB, Sendziuk majored in Finance and Operations and Information Management and minored in Mathematics. Outside of his studies, he was involved with GUUS, the Zeeba Investment Group, on-campus jobs, and the Figge Fellowship Program.
Sendziuk founded GUUS after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and served as president during the remainder of his time at Georgetown. His friends see this as a testament to both his character and leadership abilities.
“He was a doer. He was not a talker. He would just set a goal, and he would work toward it,” Iryna Tiasko (SFS ’23), a former GUUS member and Sendziuk’s childhood friend, said.“Between the time that the war started and a few days after, there was a fully formed club.”
He also engaged in broader advocacy work for Ukraine, continuing after his graduation.
He was active in the American Coalition for Ukraine, helping to coordinate their Capitol Hill advocacy to support Ukraine. Sendziuk also spearheaded the student branch of the Ukraine Action Student Summit in April 2024, which offered student-oriented programming and advocacy work for Ukraine.
“He had such empathy and this can-do attitude, this positive ambition to make the world a better place in all of the things he was involved in and just bringing 100%, if not 110%, to everything,” Vera Berezhny (CAS ’26), who met Sendziuk as a freshman through GUUS, said. “When he was there, it was all of him. Even if it was the smallest thing, he would take it with equal importance.”
Sendiuk’s care was not limited to the Ukrainian community but extended to everyone in his life, his peers said. People close to Sendziuk described him as energetic, positive, kind, and intelligent.
“Andrii would walk into the room, and his personality and charisma would take over the room,” Tiasko said. “Everybody was always smiling, laughing around him.”
Sendziuk’s friends described him as someone easy to talk to and confide in.
“I do have an older brother back in Ukraine, but Andrii was my older brother here. I knew that I could reach out to him with any kind of concerns if I needed any help, and he would always be there to help us,” Tanya Tkachenko (SFS ’26), who also knew Sendziuk through GUUS, said.
Sendziuk’s achievements were an inspiration to those around him.
“We will remember him as a very inspiring guy who came from a little village in Ukraine,” Tkachenko said. “He would always make jokes about it, about this little village, and how he made his way all the way up to his dream career in New York City.”.
Sendziuk’s character and advocacy work will endure beyond his death, his friends said.
“He was such a force, and that force does not stop because he passed away because his legacy is going to live on through the Ukrainian club,” Tiasko said. “He’s going to live on through the student summit, but also, it’s going to live on through all of us.”
Sendziuk is survived by his parents and five siblings.
