Dr. Charles Aladar Maria Meszoely

1933 - 2020

Dr. Charles Aladar Maria Meszoely died from complications of Alzheimer's disease on August 1, 2020, surrounded by his family in Nashville TN. He was born on April 24, 1933 to Karoly Meszoly and Sarolta Erdely in Szekesfehervar, Hungary. He and his family left Hungary in 1945 during the Russian occupation and took up residence in Germany as political refugees. The family was sponsored to come to the United States in 1951. They moved to the Boston area where Charles lived the majority of his remaining life. He was drafted and returned to Germany to serve in the US Armed forces during the Korean war. He proudly became a US citizen in 1954 on his return to Boston and attended Northeastern University as a biology major on the GI bill. It was there that he met the love of his life, his wife Janice Massie in 1958 and married on April 10, 1961. He continued his education at Boston University where he received his Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Paleontology. He was then recruited to Northeastern University as an instructor in the Department of Biology. He had two daughters, Ingrid and Greta of whom he was extremely proud. He lived with his family in Mansfield, Massachusetts. He chose to return to the Army as a captain in 1969 where he was assigned to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, DC with a research focus using electron microscopy to study the parasite causing malaria.
He and his family returned to Mansfield in 1971 where he ultimately was promoted to full professor and continued his faculty appointment at Northeastern University where he taught nursing, allied health students, Biology majors and postgraduate students until his retirement in 2011at the age of 77. He was a favored educator and received multiple teaching awards. He was highly published in the fields of both Paleontology and Parasitology and presented his research internationally. He and Janice moved to Springhill, TN in the fall of 2018 to escape the harsh New England winters. Charles was committed to conservation and the preservation of natural resources and served as a conservation commissioner of his home town and as an active member of several conservation organizations. He was also an avid hunter enjoying the hunt for big game, but his true love was hunting pheasants with his beloved dogs. Charles enjoyed traveling with his wife, and traveled extensively around the globe, with frequent visits to his homeland of Hungary. Family has always been central to Charles's life having been influenced by the love and dedication of his own parents, particularly as they found strength in one another fleeing the darkness of war. Spending time with his wife, children, grandchildren, and brothers were vitally important to his happiness. Charles is survived by his wife Janice, his two daughters Ingrid and Greta, his grandchildren Zach and Sasha, and his two brothers, Laszlo and George. Due to the risks of Covid-19 a public celebration of his life will be postponed until April 2021. An intimate service will occur on 8/14/20 at St Henrys Church in Nashville TN. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in Charles' memory be made towards the conservation of wildlife and reservation of land to: The Natural Resources Trust, Inc of Mansfield, http://www.nrtma.org/html/membership.html or Ducks Unlimited https://www.ducks.org/support/donateOnlineSecure.aspx?promoKey=Memo rialHonorGiving&ID=4889