Michael Nemec

LEXINGTON – A memorial service for Michael Nemec, 82, will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 18, 2012 at Caughman-Harman Funeral Home, Lexington Chapel. The family will receive friends after the service.

Mr. Nemec was born February 3, 1930 in Stara-Tura, Czechoslovakia and passed away on February 14, 2012. He was the son of the late Stefan and Katherine Nemec. Mr. Nemec attended the University of Prague from 1948-50. He was arrested for anti-communist views in 1950 and escaped the Soviet occupied CSR in the winter of 1951. He was issued refugees identity card by the International Refugee Organization in Austria on April 18, 1951. Mr. Nemec traveled throughout Europe, trying to help other anti-communists defect and escape.

Mr. Nemec arrived in Halifax, Canada in September 1952. He met Rhea Joan Monette in the summer of 1953 in Hamilton, Canada and they were married on June 18, 1955 in Bayside, NY. From 1955-59, he worked at Scientific Design in Great Neck, NY. From 1960-63, Mr. Nemec worked with Sabo Contracting in New York City and in 1963 he started his own contractor company.

Mr. and Mrs. Nemec were granted United States citizenship in 1965 and in 1966 they moved to Sea Cliff, NY. In 1976 they moved to Columbia and started Michael Nemec and Company, a real estate development and construction company, with his son, Michael Dwight Nemec. In 2001, Rhea Nemec passed away and Mr. Nemec semi-retired.

Mr. Nemec is survived by his son, Michael D. Nemec and daughter-in-law, Anacelis Nemec; daughter, Patricia Ann Nemec Snyder and son-in-law, Douglas; grandchildren, Andrew D. Snyder, Samantha E. Snyder, Michael Stefan Nemec, Leslie A. Nemec, Daniele M. Nemec and Laura M. Nemec Riley. He was predeceased by his wife.