Vincent Kvasnikoff

Vincent Kvasnikoff is a Sugpiaq Elder from Nanwalek, Alaska. He grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle focused on fishing, hunting, and berry picking. As boy, he learned the importance of hard work and helping other people. His parents were teachers, and he grew up in a bilingual household of thirteen kids with his father speaking Russian and his mother speaking her Native Aleut language. Vincent served in the military, worked as a community health aide, did airport and road maintenance, and served as the Village Chief. He has served the community over the years in other ways, including in 1974 as a founding member of the North Pacific Rim Native Corporation, on the Chugach Regional Resources Commission, and in response to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill that brought environmental damage to the community. Even when he was working, fishing and hunting have remained an important part of Vincent's lifestyle. He and his wife, Natalie, raised four children to whom he passed along these traditions.