Alexander Banach

Alexander Banach, age 97 passed away October 18, 2025. Called Alec by the family, he was born October 7, 1928 in Greenfield, Massachusetts, to Polish immigrants Stanislaw Alexander Banach and Rozalia Krysiak Banach. Alec graduated from Greenfield High School in June 1946 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy just three weeks later. After his discharge in 1949, Alec worked for the Boston Department of Public Works and attended college. He married Barbara Ann Porche in June 1950 and soon began a family. Graduating from Northeastern University in 1955 with a degree in Civil Engineering, Alec was hired by Bethlehem Steel and moved his family to Sparrow Point, Maryland, in 1956.

He worked his way up to Construction Superintendent and, to quote a portion of a letter from a supervisor, “Al Banach was responsible for a great variety of construction projects from light to heavy industrial involving not only standard construction techniques but also work in very complex and hazardous environments due to the nature of the Sparrows Point Plant processes. This included work with many industrial utilities such as oxygen, hydrogen, coke oven gas, natural gas, argon, nitrogen, and many different water systems, benzine, naphthalene and others.” Alec retired in 1986 as Bethlehem Steel reduced capital spending and began to reduce the work force. After retirement, Alec and Barb made many trips back to New England and the maritime provinces of Canada. Alec also studied Polish to reacquaint himself with the language his parents spoke, then travelled to Poland and found relatives outside of Warsaw.

Alec’s wife of seventy years predeceased him, as did one daughter, Christine A. Dorn. He is survived by daughters Carol M. Vasold and Diane R. Hafner, plus sons Mark A. Banach, David E. Banach, and Steven J. Banach. He has fifteen grandchildren, twenty-six great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.