Obituary: Bela Lanczy

Dr. Bela T. Lanczy, age 69, of Herman, passed away on November 30th, 2021.He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew and loved him. His smile. His laugh. His hugs. His compassion. Dr. Bela was one of a kind, and life without him will never be the same. “God is in charge” he always said to us during difficult times. God must have really needed him to take him from us so much sooner than we all expected.

In 1951 Hiltrud (Sehlmeyer) Lanczy, Dr. Tamas Lanczy, and their oldest child Barbara immigrated from their home in Germany to the United States. Not long after coming to America they welcomed their first-born son, Bela, in Morristown, NJ on May 21, 1952. As their father practiced family medicine the Lanczy’s moved from New Jersey to North Eaton, Ohio; to Baraga, MI; and lastly settled in Herman, MI. From an early age Bela loved to fish, hunt, and be in the woods. He absolutely loved nature and growing up in Herman he spent all of his free time doing just that. He also was very active in 4-H horsemanship. He competed with his quarter horse Joe Berry in various events across the UP. The boxes of trophies that he accumulated over the years were donated and repurposed to multiple charity organizations. He graduated from L’Anse High School in 1970. While in high school he was an avid weightlifter, senior class president and was on the track team. At 14 he met the love of his life, Lisa Skuggen, when she was in 7th grade.

After high school Bela joined the ROTC program and attended college at Michigan Tech University. He married Lisa Skuggen on December 23,1972. After graduating from MTU in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, Bela, Lisa, and their daughter Kerstina moved to Fort Polk, LA from 1974-1977 where Bela was stationed as a medical corps officer. The remainder of his military service was served in the National Guard as Battalion Surgeon at the HHC 107th Engineer Battalion in Ishpeming, MI. Upon completion of his active-duty service, he returned to MTU and earned his master’s degree with honors in microbiology in 1980. Their family continued to grow, and Bela, Jr. was born. After graduating the family moved to Sun Prairie, WI where Bela was hired at Oscar Mayer as a plant bacteriologist. In Sun Prairie they completed their family with the birth of Lucas. Bela achieved accolades during his time at Oscar Mayer. He was offered a corporate level position in Tennessee, but instead of accepting this promotion, he decided to pursue his passion to become a medical doctor like his father. They moved to Lansing, Michigan where he was accepted to Medical School at Michigan State University.

Bela graduated from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1987 and entered his residency program at Marquette General Hospital in Marquette, MI. After completion of his residency in 1990, he returned to L’Anse, MI and started working for BCMH and Bay View Family Practice. Bela loved being able to practice medicine in his hometown. He went on to serve as the primary care physician of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community when they opened up their new office in Baraga. After several years working there, he decided to close out his career in medicine, focusing his talents on serving as an Emergency Room Physician at several different hospitals across the UP, including Bell Hospital in Ishpeming, Iron Mountain, Ontonagon, and Keweenaw Memorial Hospital. He retired from the National Guard as a Major in 1995. Bela spent the last years of his career as a physician at ASPIRUS Keweenaw Memorial Hospital until his retirement in 2015. He stayed on as the director of the Mercy EMS until 2019.

In his retirement he spent a lot of his time doing what he loved–being outdoors. He enjoyed taking his dogs, Tatia and Cooper, on walks in the woods and collecting flower seeds along the way. He decided it would be fun to get chickens and took up raising chickens, as well as, roosters. They were his pets, and he spoiled them rotten. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, gardening and planting apple trees, berry bushes, and flowers everywhere. Although he was a hunter, he also loved tending to the deer herd in Herman. He fed them all year round and enjoyed seeing them in the yard. Above all things his family was the most important. We had many traditions and family gatherings throughout the years–we are an extremely close family. We will continue to lead our lives by his lessons and example. We will honor him by continuing our strong faith in God, always putting our families and friends first, and loving and respecting nature.

Dr. Bela Tamas Lanczy is preceded in death by his parents Dr. Tamas Lanczy and Hiltrud Lanczy; his father-in-law Clarence Skuggen and mother-in-law Ruth Skuggen; brother-in-law Darryl Rantanen and sister-in-law Greta Rosebrook; brother-in-law George LaTendresse; nephew Tommy Kangas. Surviving family members include his wife Lisa (Skuggen) Lanczy; his daughter Kerstina (Mick) Wirtz and grandchildren Mickey, Maddi and Saige of Green Bay, WI; his son Bela (Jennifer) Lanczy and grandchildren Ava and Jaron of Green Bay, WI; his son Lucas (Jamie) Lanczy and grandchildren Lucas, Tessa, and Mea of L’Anse, MI; his siblings Barb LaTendresse of Houghton, MI; Tibor (Taryn) Lanczy of Salida, CO; Zoli (Karen VanStraten) Lanczy of L’Anse, MI; Geza (Mary Pilotte) Lanczy of West Lafayette, IN; and cousins Adrian Krudy of Shaker Heights, OH; George Krudy; Gerhardt (Ingeborg) Lauenstein and Detlev (Birgit) Lauenstein of Germany. Close friends Duncan Price, Patricia Butler, Pam (Jim) Bell, Dale (Evie Whitman) Aho, and Markus Ladd.

A celebration of life will take place this summer and will be announced at a later date. Dr. Bela, Bumpa Bela, Grandpa Bela, B, beloved husband, father, father-in-law, brother, uncle, son and friend will be laid to rest with military honors. A celebration of his life will follow where we can gather, tell stories and support one another.

Bela’s obituary may also be viewed and condolences sent to the family at www.reidfuneralservicechapel.com.

The Reid Funeral Service and Chapel, L’Anse has been entrusted with the arrangements.