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Michael Barany Obituary
This obituary was originally published in the Star Tribune.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Joe Chalovich
July 27, 2021
Still thinking of Michael and Kate as survivors and conquerors; great teachers, scientists and friends.
Ronald Silverman
October 27, 2017
I worked as a technician for Michael and Kate at the Institute for Muscle Disease in New York from 1971-73 after graduating college. Many fond memories. He taught me most of all good work habits and fostered intellectual curiosity.
Bill Longman
August 24, 2011
I had the pleasure and privilege to study biochemistry with Dr. Bárány at UIC. He was a tireless and animated man, always ready to stop and say hello, and fastidious about his work. I wish his family the same peace and joy that I received through Kate and him, for they were truly inseparable.
August 11, 2011
Farewell MIsi,
You have reached your destination, no more pain and suffering. You have left us behind with lots of good memories. You lived a very productive life, establishing a remarkable family, scientific achievements and well-trained students who are carrying on your mission.
As I was reading your guest book, I met with recognition and appreciation, names like Peter Lengyel, Louis Schliselfeld and Joe Chalovich and read their comments.
I am sure that many of your former students and associates will contribute to this book and I am looking forward to reading their entries.
I was pleased to read Sara Appel's notes about the lectures of Kate and Mike, which were outstanding and inspirational. I remember Kate had parties at the end of the course and served her wonderful cookies as a treat.
They were avid swimmers. I saw them, year round, walking hand in hand, toward the gym where the pool was located. They also played decent tennis; unfortunately Mike's back troubles prevented his playing in later years. Besides sharing enjoyment by playing tennis with them at times, we often met during intermissions at the Lyric Opera.
I am glad that with the help of the late Harold Fineberg and Dean Truman Anderson, we succeeed in establishing faculty positions for Mike and Kate. They contributed significantly to the scientific reputation of the Departments of Biochemistry and Physiology.
I think that Mike was a great scientist and a remarkable, caring human -being. Janos Molnar
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Louis Schliselfeld
August 7, 2011
I worked with and for your father for about 18 years. We published many important papers in peer reviewed journals.
Peter and Suzanna Lengyel
August 5, 2011
Goodbye, Misi. We have indelible memories of you and Kate from our shared lives in Budapest and in New York City. We have never known any parents who equalled the two of you in the perfect ways in which you raised your sons, while you excelled in your scientific work. We are happy we knew you. Peter and Zsuzsi Lengyel.
Maurice Manning
August 5, 2011
Dear George: I was very sorry to learn that your beloved father Michael passed away last week just a few short weeks after his dearest wife Kate. I will always remember how happy and proud they both were at the APS in Minneapolis in 1999, which you organized. May their extraordinary lives and the memories of all the good times shared with them always inspire you and continue to light your life and the lives of all others near and dear to them in the days, months and years ahead. With deepest sympathy on your great loss.
Sarah Appel
August 5, 2011
Dear George and Francis,
A beautiful website and obituary. Michael was probably the most compelling and enthusiastic, as well as cordial and kind, Professor I had in graduate school. I took Kate and Michael’s course on the Biochemistry and Physiology of Muscle contraction when I was a grad student, and Michael actually did demonstrations in class of actin polymerization in a test tube and actin and myosin interacting. The course was organized chronologically and historically which no one ever takes the time or effort to do these days. I became aware of and read John Solaro’ classic work on troponin in that class, long before I met him and he became our department head.
Michael was an amazing scientist and intellect and would also, in later years, kiss my hand when he would meet me in the hallway at work! He was a very original and deep thinker and a true gentleman. He is likely one of the finest and most important scientists who was ever at UIC. He will be greatly missed. The book he wrote in later years is a classic.
My heart goes out to you and your families at this difficult time - To lose both parents, in such a short space of time.
Love,
Sarah
Joyce Keithley
August 1, 2011
Bob and I were so sorry to learn of the death of your parents. We enjoyed having them as neighbors these past few years. They both loved to swim and walk and even when their much younger counterparts stayed inside due to inclement weather, we would see them bundled up and out walking. Over the last couple of summers, we shared extra produce from my mother's large garden, such as tomatoes, zucchini, and potatoes. I would leave a bag outside their apartment door, and the very next day, we could always count on receiving a bag outside our door with a package of cookies in it. They were bright, considerate, and generous people and will be missed. Please extend our condolences to the family.
Joseph Chalovich
August 1, 2011
Michael Bárány was my mentor during my doctoral studies at the University of Illinois School of Medicine. He was always on the move; walking rapidly from one lab to his office and then to another lab. He was driven by his work and did not seem to get tired. I remember him eating apples in the evening while we discussed a manuscript. He explained that he could eat as many apples he wanted without ever gaining a pound. There must be wisdom to that diet because Michael continued to look fit as long as I knew him. Michael was an excellent lecturer. His course on muscle contraction was entertaining and informative. Kate lectured on areas related to physical methods, her own area of expertise. The most memorial part of Michael’s course was that it was focused as much on the process of discovery as it did on the facts. One fact that Michael did not speak of in the lab was his imprisonment in Buchenwald. Some years after I left the lab Michael told me about the experiences that he and Kate had with the Nazi’s. In March, 1995 I was on a crowded bus with Michael in Heidelberg. We were both attending a meeting to honor Professor Johann Caspar Rüegg. Michael began to reminisce about his days in Buchenwald and the events leading to his imprisonment. He spoke loudly and nearby passengers heard and understood but no one spoke. It was a chilling occasion. In recent years Michael spoke of Kate’s health issues, the success of his two sons and the joy that he and Kate received from their grandchildren. I will miss both Michael and Kate.
David Thomas
July 31, 2011
Michael was an inspiration to me personally and to several generations of muscle researchers.
George Barany
July 31, 2011
Dear Dad, Over the last few months, you made many new friends who loved and admired you. Your whole life taught us all so much about life. George
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