Michael George Repasky

Mike, as most knew him by, was born on February 18, 1928 in the South Side of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he would spend the entirety of his childhood. The tenth of twelve children, Mike was raised in a typical Catholic Slovak family.

From a young age, Mike garnered a passion for storytelling through his love of the silver screen. Mike, in his memoir, stated:

“Unattainable for most, the American dream remained something we tucked away in some far part of the brain - a daydream, perhaps, that some day, by some miracle, might come true. All in all, though, in the late thirties, the eleven cent movies served their purpose - a glorious escape into a never-never land with two features, cartoons, and a newsreel taking up a complete Saturday morning.”

In a 2000 interview for the Vienna [Virginia] Connection, Mike recounted how he began writing around the age of 15. When asked about his passion for storytelling, he stated “I had a desire. It’s a natural thing for me and it’s hard to stop”.

After graduating from North Catholic High School of Pittsburgh in 1946, Mike pursued that passion for storytelling formally at Duquesne University, graduating in 1951 with a degree in Print Journalism.

Curious as to what the world had to offer him, Mike took the foreign service exam and passed, launching him into a lifelong career within the United States Department of State. Mike served in many foreign missions around the world, including to South Africa; Bonn and Berlin, Germany; Ecuador; Tehran, Iran; Manila, Philippines; and San Salvador, El Salvador.

Even with his dedication to his career, Mike never lost sight of his true passion for storytelling, publishing five books - The Elite Corps, 1988; High Roller, 1999; The Wise and The Lovely, 2001; Between God and The Devil, 2003; and A Pittsburgh Kid - A Memoir, 2007 - along with innumerable other short stories, poems, and opinion pieces in various literary publications, one of many noteworthy examples being Highlights.

Aside from his passion for storytelling, Mike was an avid fan of the teams from his native Pittsburgh, and could often be seen watching a Pittsburgh Pirates game. To quote him, “A ball, to me, was the best thing ever devised and naturally the love of baseball followed.” A fan of the Pirates long after his departure from Pittsburgh, his love of baseball translated to all Pittsburgh sports teams, and Mike could often be seen glued to a Steelers game during football season, or a Penguins game during hockey season.

In 1998, feeling content with his decades-long service to the Department of State, Mike retired from his position as the Director of the General Services Branch, Department of Management and Administration for the Bureau of Consular Affairs and took on a full-time consulting position with the Department of State, eventually retiring altogether. This allowed him to allocate more time to his family and travel more on his own terms, which he greatly enjoyed, given seeking luck in Atlantic City casinos was a personal favorite activity of his - to such an extent that it served as the the inspiration for his novel High Roller.

Throughout his life, Mike was always a devoted son, brother, father, grandfather (Papa), and friend to his family as well as to those who had the privilege of knowing him through the years.

He was predeceased by his parents, Michael Kolman Repasky and Veronica Wasecko, and ten of his eleven siblings (Francis Repasky, Emil Repasky, Frances Schell, Edward Repasky, Veronica Jezzi, Ruth King, Margaret Repasky, Bernadette Keib, Mary Kuchta, and Irene Vogt).

Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Margarita Rosa Repasky (née Rendon) of Sandy Springs, Georgia and Atlantic City, New Jersey; two children, Michael Anthony Repasky (Kim) of Dunwoody, Georgia and Daytona Beach, Florida, and Michela Margarita Silvia (Stephen) of Washington, DC; four grandchildren, Alex Silvia of Washington, DC, Jack Repasky (Ari) of Atlanta, Georgia, Carolyn Repasky of Savannah, Georgia, Grace Repasky of Atlanta, Georgia; and a sister, Therese Straub of Fort Myers, Florida.

We will forever miss him dearly, though we know he walks with us in spirit each and every day.

The first line of Mike’s memoir is -

“Heaven to me is shagging fly balls on a hot summer afternoon”.

We’d like to think Mike is up there in the outfield catching every single one.