ANDRAS KALMAN SZAKAL

Dr. ANDRAS KALMAN SZAKAL
Remembrance of Life
Dr. Andras Kalman Szakal passed away peacefully of natural causes, on December 25, 2021, surrounded by loving family. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Norma E. Szakal, his two children, Andras R. Szakal and Dr. Tamas K. Szakal, and his grandchildren: Nicholas, Katie, Kriszten, Nathan, Endre, and Elena, and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, colleagues, and friends. Dr. Szakal chose to be cremated and will be interred in the columbarium of the Church of Epiphany located in Chesterfield VA. A public mass and remembrance will be held on January 22, 2022 at 12 noon. Dr. Szakal was born in Szekesfehervar, Hungary to Maria and Viktor Andor Szakal as their only child. During WWII, he was raised by a protective and loving extended family including his Aunts Mami-neni and Bozi-neni and his Uncle Kalman-bacsi. He told many stories about close calls and family struggles during the German and then Russian occupations. Under the Communist regime, his family was forced to give up their trading business and vineyard, and he was denied the opportunity to attend college. At 19, he was assigned a job as a machinist in an air-conditioning factory. After participating in the demonstrations, and a short lived revolution, against the Communists, he fled Hungary with only the clothes on his back and the determination for a better life. After spending several months in refugee camps, Dr. Szakal was approved for immigration to the United States to reside with his cousin's family, Tibor Laky, in Dallas, Texas. Some months later after turning 20, he and twenty some other Hungarian refuges were admitted to the University of Colorado where they were given six weeks of English and placed in freshman classes. He made the most of his newfound opportunity, learning English, a new culture, and studying and obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Colorado. It was while he was working as a teaching assistant that he met Norma Skinner, his future wife. He also attended graduate Anatomy classes at the University of Michigan while working at the University until 1965. In 1969, following several years of conducting research at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories, he resumed his graduate school education, obtaining his Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Tennessee in 1972. Over the years, Dr. Szakal was a prolific scientific researcher who published many papers on the function and anatomy of the immune system. He is best known for the identification and discovery of the Follicular Dendritic Cell (FDC) and its role in long term humoral immunity. Dr. Szakal first postulated the existence of the FDC while working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and later isolated the FDC while at the Medical College of Virginia. The discovery of the FDC and its morphology was foundational for the field of Immunology and Anatomy. Dr. Szakal was retired from the Virginia Commonwealth University - Medical College of Virginia after 26 years as a Full Professor. In addition to conducting research, he had the privilege of teaching Human Anatomy, Human Histology and Immunology to many dental and medical students including his two sons. Dr. Szakal was an exceptional artist who often annotated his work as published in medical journals and textbooks, painted many pictures, and crafted other works of art. He continues to be cited frequently by researchers and some of his expertly executed drawings are still being used today by his former students and colleagues. Dr. Szakal was known as Papa to his grandchildren and family. He always found a way to make each of his grandchildren feel special in their own way. He loved cooking Hungarian dishes, reading science fiction, playing tennis with his USTA team, and sailing his Sunfish. In lieu of flowers or gifts please consider a donation to VCU Medical Center in Dr. Szakal's name at https://microbiology.vcu.edu/gift/ [microbiology.vcu.edu].