Iosif Gusarev was born on December 27, 1932 in Kiev (Kyiv), Ukraine to his father, Heorgiy Gusarev, and his mother, Nadezhda Vorobyeva. On September 29-30, 1941, his family, including his mother, was killed in the Babi Yar massacre. Iosif survived and was taken in by the Patyuta family in Kiev (Kyiv) where he remained in hiding until the end of the war. The family’s oldest daughter, Natalia Patyuta, became like a second mother to Iosif. He remained with the family until 1948 when he was accepted into the Military Artillery College. Iosif served in the Soviet Army from 1952 until 1960 in the far North-East around Kamchatka. He later married Ludmils in 1954. After being discharged from the military, he returned to his family in Kiev (Kyiv) and began his civilian life by working as an apprentice in the printing industry. He finished college and engineering school by studying in the evenings and eventually retired as Deputy Director General. On February 6, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Moisey and Anisya Patyuta and their daughters, Natalya Patyuta, Oksana Kozakova, Praskovya Patyuta, and Olga Patyuta, as Righteous Among the Nations for hiding Iosif during the war. Iosif and his family relocated to Chicago as refugees on January 6, 1993.