The life of Frank Csaszar – pronounced like Chaucer – was full of the stuff great books are made of, said his son Scott Csaszar.
“I always wondered why he didn’t write a book,” Scott Csaszar said of his father. “It think it would have been a good one.”
Frank Csaszar was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1936. His family moved to Germany and lived there for approximately two years before moving to the United States, said Scott Csaszar, who lives in Roswell. When his father came to the U.S. he only spoke Hungarian and German.
“He learned to speak English by reading comic books,” his son said.
As a youth, Frank Csaszar was very athletic. He played nearly every sport, except American football and baseball, said his daughter, Susan Scannella, of Alpharetta..
“Until he was fluent in English, his athletic ability spoke for itself,” his daughter said.
Frank Csaszar met Angela Ann DiRuggiero not long after he arrived in the U.S., his children said. They were childhood sweethearts, who went on to enjoy 52 years of marriage. In 1998 the couple moved from Pennsylvania to Alpharetta to be closer to two of their children.
“From then on he devoted himself to watching his grandchildren grow up,” Mrs. Scannella said.
Frank Charles Csaszar, of Alpharetta, died Monday from complications due to Alzheimer’s disease. He was 75. A funeral service is planned for 12:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Alpharetta. The body will be cremated, the family said. SouthCare Cremation & Memorial Centers, Alpharetta, is in charge of arrangements.
In his later years, Mr. Csaszar didn’t go far without his camera, a fact that his children teased him about.
“He didn’t want pictures of himself, but of everybody else,” Mrs. Scannella said. “And he had the pictures organized, along with his reel-to-reel movies, so he could find any picture or movie you might look for.”
He particularly enjoyed taking pictures of his grandchildren when they played soccer, a game of his childhood. Sports and academics were of great importance in the Csaszar household, Mrs. Scannella and her brother said.
“He was very quick in math and science,” Scott Csaszar said of his father. “He enjoyed the science of things, knowing how things were put together and how the worked.”
Frank Csaszar was a part of at least six patents in the late 60s and early 70s that involved plastics. One patent from 1966, that lists him as the sole inventor and working on the behalf of the Dow Chemical Company, involves an electrical insulation composition and electrical-grade wire insulation.
“We didn’t know about any of this when we were kids,” Mrs. Scannella said. “It wasn’t until we were older and it was time for us to do something with our lives, that we realized how much he’d done with his.”
In addition to his wife, daughter and son, Mr. Csaszar is survived by a son, Jeff Csaszar of Sellersville, Pa.; seven grandchildren and one step-granddaughter.
About the Author
