Background
He was born in Dresden, Germany of mixed French and Lusatian Sorb heritage.
He was born in Dresden, Germany of mixed French and Lusatian Sorb heritage.
During the Second World War, he was active in the resistance movement against the Nazis and he was briefly interned in a concentration camp. He escaped to Great Britain and worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation as a translator of German and Slavic languages. He became a Ukrainian Catholic priest and moved to Canada, where he served in many different parishes and missions, including Street Michael"s Ukrainian Catholic Parish in Kingston, Ontario.
He was an advocate for Ukraine"s independence from Soviet tyranny.
In 1975, Riotte moved to Hawai‘i, where he worked as a researcher in entomology at the Bishop Museum. He was a prolific author of papers in Hawaiian entomology.
After his death his remains were returned to Kingston, Ontario, where he was buried in Street Mary"s Roman Catholic cemetery thanks to the support of the Ukrainian Canadian Club of Kingston and the Kingston Branch of the League of Ukrainian Canadians. A marker recalling his contributions as a man of faith and of science is maintained in that cemetery by the Ukrainian Canadian community there.