Zbynek Ladislav Vancura

    Dr. Zbynek L. Vancura passed away the morning of September 27, 2013 in Las Vegas with his wife Vera, by his side. He was 87.   Zbynek was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia on June 13, 1926. In 1939, he and fellow classmates were expelled from school for refusing to salute the Nazis. After finishing high school in Bratislava, Slovakia, he joined the resistance while attending college. In 1948, while Czechoslovakia was under Soviet communist control, he defected, by crossing the border on a journey of several days on foot through snow, into West Germany and living in a political refugee camp for 6 months. He subsequently attended the Netherlands School of Economics, where he received his Doctorate in Economics in 1954. Wanting to become an American citizen, Zbynek joined the United States Air Force later that year and was stationed in Oslo, Norway for several years as a translator (he was fluent in 7 languages).   In the late '50s, Zbynek attended the Harvard Business School, and he met his future wife Vera at the Harvard ice rink in 1960. They married in 1962 and for 42 years lived in Santa Clara, California. They had two sons, Olaf and Alex (who died in 1987). Zbynek loved to teach and was a professor at Santa Clara University for 32 years until his retirement in 1994. In 2004, Zbynek and Vera moved to Las Vegas to be near their son's family.   A devout Christian, Zbynek enjoyed reading the Bible and discussing God's Word. He is survived by Vera, his wife of 51 years, his son Olaf, daughter-in-law Kathy and grandchildren Andrea, Sasha, Charlotte, Alex, Mary, Stephanie, Christiana, Zachary, Julia and Gloria.