Galina S. Pendill & C. Grant Pendill, Jr.
Dr. C. Grant Pendill, Jr. received both his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of
Michigan, majoring in Political Science, and his Ph.D., from the University of Pennsylvania. He became involved in
the earliest Soviet-American exchanges with World War II veterans exchanges in President Eisenhower's People to People
Program and also Arms of Friendship in the late 1950's. He has often been referred to as the “grandfather of Soviet
American exchanges.”
In the l960's, he served as Executive Director for the Citizens Exchange Corps (CEC) Field Institute developing
an accredited academic program for this US-USSR cross-cultural public service organization and led, administered
and coordinated professional and vocational exchange programs.
From 1969-1974, Dr. Pendill taught political science at Western Illinois University, and was again invited to return to
CEC, this time as its President. During the next six years, Dr. Pendill was instrumental in expanding exchanges between
the Soviet Union and the United States in virtually every field.
At the beginning of “Perestroika,” Dr. Pendill became Executive Director of the Organization of American-Soviet
Exchanges (OASES) in Washington D.C., which offered a wide variety of exchange programs, interpreting and travel to the
former Soviet Union. From 1991-1999, Dr. Pendill served as Vice President of Russian Interpreting Services (RIS).
In 1999, Dr. Pendill and his wife, Galina, established the Pendill Russian Orphan Program (PROP), which is still
operational and will merge with the Pendill Fund.
Galina S. Pendill
Galina S. Pendill was born in Riga, Latvia, and came to the US as a “displaced
person” after World War II, in l949.
She graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute in New York and worked as an art director and illustrator
for nearly twenty years. In 1974, Mrs. Pendill made a career change and became
a Russian language conference interpreter, working for many NGO's, businesses and government organizations. Her
new position allowed her to travel often to the Soviet Union and witness many of the changes that took place in the past
30 years.
In 1990, Mrs. Pendill founded Russian Interpreting Services (RIS), an interpreting and translation firm, serving as
its President until 1999, when she and her husband Grant retired and began working as volunteers for ARAA-Otrada, as
the Pendill Russian Orphans Program (PROP). For seven years, the Pendills have conducted a program in which over forty-five
disabled Russian orphans participated annually.
In the fall of 2005, Grant and Galina Pendill founded the Pendill Fund (PF), launching an exciting program, with the
help of its excellent, dedicated and vigorous Board of Directors. The PF programs are geared primarily to benefit
children and young people and are working in many regions across Russia.
