Ihor "Didi" Lysyj

Didi, known to many as Harry Balden, was born as Ihor Lysyj on April 13th 1929 to a Kozak family near the city of Konotop in the heart of Hetamanate, Ukraine. Ihor Lysyj died on September 5th 2021 in Austin, Texas.

He was a child during World War II, and was moved from his home to a displacement camp in Poland. When freed by the Allied forces, he relocated to Berchtesgaden, Bavaria. He was educated as an analytical chemist/chemical engineer in Germany before immigrating to the United States. His career took him over five continents, from the frozen shores of the Arctic Ocean and Alaska, to equatorial rain forests in Panama, and from the sunny shores of California to the frozen taiga and tundra of Siberia.

As a leader of an engineering team at Rocketdyne (Boeing) in California he contributed to the design of rocket propulsion and reentry, as well as environmental control systems on the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo projects. He additionally contributed to the operations of the White Sands rocket test site in New Mexico and the Poker Flats Alaska missile proving grounds. Later in his life he worked in the environmental protection of oil terminals, as well as the Trans Panamanian oil pipeline. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he participated in the first international oil exploration project on Sakhalin Island, and was one of the first westerners to visit Russian underground ICBM installations. His scientific and engineering contributions resulted in numerous patents, journal articles, and governmental reports.

Ihor was married to Natalie Balden Lysyj in 1957. They were united until Natalie passed away on Dec. 5th 2012 in Austin, Texas. He is survived by his daughter Roxanna Balden, and son-in-law Eric Anslyn, son Oleg Lysyj and daughter-in-law Teri Suzuki, as well as grandchildren Tristan Anslyn and Tasha Anslyn. Ihor was an avid fisherman and skier, hobbies inherited by his children and grandchildren. He will be interred at St. Andrew Memorial Church & Cemetery in South Bound Brook, New Jersey.

Ihor was active in the life of Ukrainian diaspora, being one of the principal founders of ODUM youth organization in America and a regular contributor of political commentaries to The Ukrainian Weekly. In his final years, Ihor and his schoolmate from the gimnazia in Berchtesgaden Volodymyr Sharko embarked on two book projects. One – “WHO ARE WE – The evolution of National Identity and Statehood of Ukraine” – covering the period from Kozak times to WWII, is based on reprints of a series of political articles published in journal “Orlyk” in Berchtesgaden in 1946-1948. The other book, with other colleagues, titled “The History of DP Camp Orlyk”, covers their post-WWII years in this refugee camp. In lieu of flowers, donations are suggested to the “Orlyk Books Publishing Fund/Roxanna Balden” to bring these projects to completion.

If you would like to place an order for flowers to be delivered to Ihor's graveside service, please refer to America's Florist:

America's Florist

227 N. Union Avenue

Bound Brook NJ 08805

732-356-9377

Graveside delivery for Ihor Lysyj, Oct 15, 2021