Nikola Tereshchenko

Life & Legacy

Nikola Tereshchenko (also transliterated as Mykola Tereshchenko; 14 October 1819 – 19 January 1903) was a Ukrainian philanthropist, politician, and entrepreneur in the sugar industry. Tereshchenko was well-known for being the mayor of Hlukhiv for multiple consecutive terms and for his donations to many facilities in Ukraine, such as the St Volodymyr's Cathedral, Taras Shevchenko National Museum, and the National Art Museum of Ukraine among others.
Tereshchenko was born in Hlukhiv, which was then part of the Chernigov Governorate in the Russian Empire. Despite financial difficulties at the time, he first started business by carrying bread to the Crimea on oxen, in addition to salt and fish later. In 1851 he became senior burgomaster of Hlukhiv, and by 1861 became the Mayor of Hlukhiv which he did for the next 14 years. In 1855 he built his family's first sugar factory, which gained more success after the Emancipation reform of 1861, and with funding, he was also able to found a beet sugar factory. In 1870 the family founded a society for the capital of the sugar factories, which he worked with until the end of his life. Due to the accumulation of capital he amassed during his time in business, Tereshchenko then decided to fund numerous places toward the end of his life. He provides lots of financial contributions to gymnasiums around Ukraine, and also established the Hlukhiv National Pedagogical University of Oleksandr Dovzhenko and the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. With other money, he funded multiple museums, the Kyiv National Academic Theatre of Operetta, and churches. He died in 1903.