Professor Dr. Zdenko Frankenberger Danes
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Professor Dr. Zdenko Frankenberger Danes
August 25, 1920 - March 10, 2023
This website is dedicated to the memory of our beloved father, coach, teacher and friend, Zdenko Frankenberger ("Frank") Danes. In the words of his fellow professor at the University of Puget Sound, Ted Taranovski, Frank was a true "Renaissance man."
He was born on August 25, 1920, in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and was educated and gifted in all areas of life: natural science (physics, geophysics, mathematics), history, the classics and philosophy. He knew several languages, both ancient and modern, and was at home everywhere he went.
Forced to flee in 1950 after the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia, he and his wife Marie eventually came to the United States, thanks to their amazing sponsors, Lyle and Doris Slaybaugh. In 1963, he went to the University of Puget Sound as a professor of physics and remained there until he retired, only to start another job with the US Geological Survey.
Frank loved sports, in particular the most challenging ones: mountain climbing, cross-country skiing, whitewater kayaking, bicycle racing and long-distance running. He started running competitively after the age of 50 and continued well into his 80s, during which time he successfully completed about a hundred marathons, in addition to countless shorter races and triathlons.
He had a great love for the arts and classical music, with Antonin Dvorak being his solid favorite. In his later years, he learned to play the violin, the viola, the flute and the cello. He played the viola for years with the Tacoma Community College Orchestra, conducted by Dr. John Falskow, and he both played and composed original music scores for Dance Theater Northwest, a dance studio headed by Melanie Kirk-Stauffer; all while caring for his beloved wife Marie for seventeen years, who was disabled as the result of a terrible bicycle accident. Without his care, she certainly would not have lived as long as she did. Marie passed away in 1998.
He remarried in 2007 and eventually moved back to his original home, Prague, where he worked on the monumental task of digitizing hand-written records as a volunteer for the Castle Libraries of the National Museum, and where he passed away on March 10, 2023, having lived a most awe-inspiring life. He leaves behind a legacy of incredible kindness, generosity, honesty, diligence, self-discipline, and an indomitable spirit of adventure.