Eugene Makuch Obituary

Eugene Makuch attended Fordson High School in Dearborn, MI. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Eugene Makuch.

Graduation Year	Class of 1970
Date of Passing	Jun 03, 2008
About	From the Buffalo News: Eugene E. Makuch, Cold War double agent for U.S. June 11, 1952 -- June 3, 2008 By Staff \| Published June 7, 2008 Eugene E. Makuch of East Amherst -- who, together with his wife, served the United Stats as a double agent spying on the former Soviet Union -- died Tuesday in Buffalo General Hospital. He was 55. Mr. Makuch was born in Detroit to a family with Ukrainian roots. He attended Michigan State University. He had no idea his future wife was doing counterintelligence work for the FBI when they first met in Madison, Wis., in the early 1970s. They became friends and later a romance bloomed. When Mr. Makuch proposed, she finally told him the truth about her work. The FBI was initially unhappy with her decision to divulge her status as a double agent, but then Mrs. Makuch brought her husband on to work with her. "If I loved him, I knew I could trust him," Mrs. Makuch said. They lived in Cheektowaga and Amherst and told friends they were consultants on international relations. In truth, the Makuches were engaged in espionage for the FBI. They said they infiltrated Soviet "front" organizations in the U.S. and traveled frequently to the former Soviet Union, where the KGB would provide them with money to give to the front groups and to pay for antiwar demonstrations. In their home, they hosted KGB officers and showed them around Niagara Falls and other U.S. tourist spots. Their lives were often in danger, his widow recalled, and they relied on their ability to know what the other was thinking to maintain their cover. "Eugene was always my partner. He was always my backup. He let me do what I did," Mrs. Makuch said. The Makuches retired from their work with the FBI in 1992. Mrs. Makuch remembered her late husband as a "hero" and a "patriot" who loved his country. Mr. Makuch is survived by his wife of 24 years, the former Barbara J. Pachanowski; a stepdaughter, Sophia Hejmanowski; and two sisters, Christina Sahagian and Mary Telka. A Divine Liturgy will be offered at 11 a.m. today in St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, 225 Como Park Blvd., Cheektowaga. Prayers will be said at 10:15 in Melvin J. Sliwinski Funeral Home, 5090 Transit Road in Cheektowaga.