Officers and Trustees
Joseph Balaz
President
Joseph Balaz (Josef Baláž) was born on December 22, 1960 in Prague. He first studied at the Transport Technical College on Dušní street in Prague and then Civil Engineering at Czech Technical University (ČVUT). In 1982 he emigrated to West Germany where he lived for a year and a half before traveling to Canada. From Montreal he moved to New York, where he lives today. After arriving in New York City, he found employment with a firm of developers. With a partner he later set up his first construction firm which concentrated on renovation work. Next, he established J. Balaz Associates Ltd., which specializes in exclusive residential projects for wealthy clients. The company performed the major reconstruction of one of New York's most famous recording studios, the Hit Factory, which has hosted such stars as Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, Steve Wonder and Michael Jackson. In December 2005 Joseph Balaz was elected delegate to the BBLA for the American Fund for Czech and Slovak Leadership Studies. He was then elected head of the committee responsible for administration of Bohemian National Hall. In October 2006 he became BBLA president and participated in negotiations with the Czech government on the final phase of repairs to Bohemian National Hall.
Susan Lucak
First Vice President
Susan Lucak is also President of the Dvorak American Heritage Association (DAHA). She was one of the founding members of DAHA, an organization that was created in 1990. Its goal is to honor the American musical legacy of the Czech-born composer Antonin Dvorak who lived in New York City from 1892 to 1895 when he was the Director of the National Conservatory of Music of America. Susan has been President of DAHA since 2006 and has recruited into the organization a cadre of talented and devoted professionals. DAHA has furnished the beautiful Dvorak Room in the Bohemian National Hall and each season offers unique concerts and lectures on a variety of musical subjects. Susan was born in the Czech Republic and immigrated to the USA in 1969. By profession, she is a physician with subspecialty in gastrointestinal disorders. She spent twenty-four years at Columbia University Medical Center where she is still a Special Lecturer. Since 2010, she has been in private practice on the Upper East Side where she is affiliated with Weill Cornell Medicine and Lenox Hill Hospital.
Irene Mergl
Second Vice President
Irene Mergl is a native New Yorker born in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan to Czechoslovak immigrant parents. As a result she is fluent in Czech and Slovak. She attended schools in the area from kindergarten to college including the Czech/Slovak School at the Bohemian National Hall. Irene is has been a member of Sokol New York from the age of six. She was an active gymnastic competitor, Instructor, Physical Director and presently 1st Vice President plus Historian, Public Relations and Leader of the 50+ Women's Class. Performed in the 1994 Slet in Praha at Strahov Stadium, the first Sokol Slet to be held in 40 years following the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia.
Retired, after a long and fulfilling career in nursing administration at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Wife of Stanley J. Mergl (deceased) who was a dedicated leader in Sokol and the Czech community. Mother of two sons and three grandchildren.
Blanka Suchanek
Secretary
Blanka Suchanek was born in New York City and grew up in the Yorkville area of Manhattan. As a child, she was a student at the Czech School in the Narodni Budova and a gymnast at Sokol New York. In 1998 Ms. Suchanek became a member of the BBLA. She is a trustee to the BBLA representing Sokol New York.
Jirina Silhanova-Sager
Treasurer
Jirina Silhanova-Sager was born in Ostrava, the Czech Republic (in the former Czechoslovakia). Right after her moving to the US in 1969, she became involved with the Czech-Slovak community in New York. Since 1973, she has been a member of the Association of Free Czechoslovak Sportsmen as a Secretary and a Treasurer. Together with Dr. Alex Cech and architect Jan Hird Pokorny, she supported the efforts to restore the Bohemian National Hall. She has been a Treasurer of BBLA since 1976, a member of World Cruise Society, a member of Sokol New York, and a volunteer for Visiting Nurses of New York. In 2012, she was awarded “Distinguished Czech Woman in the Western World” and from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, she received a silver medal of Jan Masaryk.
Trustees and Delegates
Dr. Vlado Simko
TRUSTEE
Vlado Simko, M.D., served on the Board of the American Fund for Czechoslovak Relief and as a BBLA trustee for reconstruction of the historic Bohemian National Hall in New York City. Professor of Clinical Medicine at State University New York, Downstate Medical Center at Brooklyn.
Dr. Simko was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia in 1931. After medical and research training and after obtaining boards in internal medicine and clinical chemistry he became research investigator and Head, Laboratory Department at the Research institute for Human Nutrition in Bratislava. Here he earned a C.Sc. (Ph.D.) for research on metabolic effects of heated fat in food. In addition to teaching the graduate students he participated in research on diets for man in space. Since 1982 Dr. Simko is the Chief, Section of Gastroenterology at the Veterans medical center in Brooklyn, NY. He actively joined several Czechoslovak exile organizations, publishing numerous socio-political essays in Slovak democratic exile periodical Nase snahy and in other journals. He is the past and present vice president of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) and organizes the biomedical symposia at the world congresses of SVU where he regularly reports on his research. Vlado Simko pledged a grant to the BBLA and BBLA’s Study Center/Library, in memory of his wife Mary and his son Daniel. Recently he made another generous donation towards renovation and remodeling of BBLA’s Library.
Suzanna (Zuzana) Halsey
TRUSTEE
Executive Secretary and Event Producer, Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences, NY Chapter/ SVU NY. A native of Czechoslovakia and graduate of Charles University in Prague, Suzanna is a woman of many trades: before she came to the United States in 1978, she worked as an editor in a publishing house in Prague. Later, she studied filmmaking at New York University SCPS and worked several years as a film and video editor. She produced several cultural shows at Symphony Space and a reading series at the World Financial Center in New York. She teaches the Czech language at New York University and privately, including diction coaching for opera and theater. Suzanna also works for the nonprofit organization Friends of Czech Greenways, promoting cultural and environmental preservation along the Prague Vienna Greenways route. She promotes cross-cultural understanding and enjoys bringing together smart, creative and positive people. www.czechmatters.com
Norma B. Zabka
TRUSTEE
President of the Sokol New York; Associate Professor (Education) Hunter College of the City University of N.Y.; International Rhythmic Gymnastics Judge, having judged at 4 Olympic Games; Member, USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame; and Co-author “Gymnastics Activities with Hand Apparatus.”
Vit Horejs
TRUSTEE
Vit Horejs moved to New York from Prague via Paris in 1979 and toured the world with Ta Fantastika Black Light Theatre during the 1980s. In 1990 he co-founded the Czechoslovak-American Theatre (CAMT) and has been the company's artistic director ever since. Performing at the Bohemian National Hall starting in 1992, when it was still a decrepit hulk with pigeons flying above the puppeteers' heads, has been one of the greatest adventures of his life. Vit has translated, written, adapted and directed a dozen plays, including: The New World Symphony, Dvorak in America; The Bass Saxophone; The Life and Times of Lee Harvey Oswald; The Historye of Queen Ester; Don Juan, or The Wages of Debauchery; Twelfth Night; The Prose of the Transiberian and of the Little Joan of France; Twelve Iron Sandals; Golem; an experimental interpretation of Shakespeare's Hamlet; Rusalka, the Little Rivermaid; The White Doe; and the biggest his of itinerant Czech puppeteers, Faust. Vit has performed on stage, in films, and on TV. On screen, he played Krojack in Woody Allen's Don't Drink the Water. His published works include fairy tales, poetry and essays in both Czech and English. He co-produced Faust on a String, an award-winning documentary film about Czech puppetry.
George Suchanek
TRUSTEE
George Suchanek was born in Prague in 1940. After graduating from primary school, George says that only three professions were available to him: bricklayer, miner, or steelworker. However, a well-placed friend of the family was able to help him enroll in culinary school. In June 1965 George participated in a tourist trip to Austria. Although he says it was never his intention to leave Czechoslovakia, at the end of the trip George left the group and made his way to the police station where he claimed asylum. He was sent to Traiskirchen refugee camp. While living in Austria, George saw an advertisement for a job at Vasata, a Czech restaurant in New York City. He was accepted as a cook and, in November 1965, traveled to the United States. George worked in several restaurants in New York and Los Angeles. In New York, George started his own construction company and also built and ran several restaurants, the last of which was Zlata Praha, in Queens. George also acted as a manager and promoter for Czechoslovak entertainers performing in the United States and Canada. He organized several tours and concerts for Karel Gott, among others. Today George lives in New York City with his wife and daughter.
Eva Derman
TRUSTEE
Eva Derman is a molecular biologist, and since 2010, she has been the President of the Society for the History of Czechoslovak Jews. She spent two decades as head of the laboratory in the Department of Developmental and Structural Biology at the Public Health Research Institute in New York with an adjunct appointment in the Department of Cell Biology in the New York University Medical School. After immigrating to the United States as a refugee from Czechoslovakia in 1968, she received her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at Columbia University. As a Helen Hay Whitney fellow, she spent the first part of her postdoctoral training at Oxford University and the second half at Rockefeller University.
Majda Kallab Whitaker
TRUSTEE
Majda Kallab Whitaker serves as a Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Dvořák American Heritage Association (DAHA) as well as a BBLA board member. She is an independent scholar and museum consultant specializing in late nineteenth and early twentieth century cultural and design history, and has acted as an advisor for DAHA’s Dvořák Room project in the Bohemian National Hall since 2006. Since the Grand Opening of the Dvořák Room in 2011, she has presented lectures, walking tours, and exhibits including New World Diplomacy: The Contract that Brought Antonín Dvořák to America; DAHA: Twenty-Five Years of Celebrating Composer Antonín Dvořák and his American Legacy; and Mythic Bohemia: Dvořák’s Villa and Lake Rusalka. Born in Prague, she is a graduate of Vassar College and Bard Graduate Center in New York City.
Jarmila Bren
Delegate
Jarmila Bren was born on December 26, 1950 in Ostrava, the Czech Republic (former Czechoslovakia). From 1966- 1970, she studied at SZS – Higher Specialized School for Hospital Healthcare Providers – and then worked as a dental technician at KNsP – regional hospital and polyclinic. In 1979, she completed post-graduate specialized studies in Brno at the Institute for Continuing Education for Healthcare Providers. Thanks to her high level of manual dexterity, strong work ethic and good character, she was well liked among her co-workers and became a group leader. In 1992, she came to the USA and became a New York resident. In 1995, she opened her own dental studio on Long Island and became an American citizen in 2000. She has been involved with the Czech community events ever since the Bohemian National Hall was restored and opened in 2008, and became a BBLA member in 2016.
In Memoriam
Aja Vrzanova-Steindler (1931-2015)
Aja Vrzanova-Steindler was born in Prague. Among her many figure skating triumphs, she was National Figure Skating Champion four times, a European Champion, Olympian 1948 (4th place), two times World Champion 1949 - 1950, star of Ice Follies 1951-1954 and star of Ice Capades 1954-1968. She was honored by Czech president Vaclav Klaus. She was the chairperson of the International Coordination Committee for Czechs Abroad. The Czech Government also honored her as an Outstanding Czech Woman in the World. In 2006, she was named by COMENIUS European Company for Arts and Sciences as Lady PRO of 2006 in the Czech Republic. She was a member of Zonta Int., a Czech charitable organization for Czech business women. Last but not least, she was named Outstanding Woman "Czech 100 Best" in 2006.
Jan Hird Pokorny (1914-2008)
Architect Jan Hird Pokorny was a commissioner of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission for 10 years and was involved in the efforts to save Sailors’ Snug Harbor and the Dvorak House. He was a Czech-born architect whose New York firm became known for restoring and adapting historic buildings. Among the historic buildings restored and redesigned or modernized under his supervision are Lewisohn Hall at Columbia University, the Schermerhorn Row block at the South Street Seaport, the Brooklyn Historical Society building, the National Lighthouse Museum on Staten Island and the Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan. He was the President of BBLA and of the American Fund for Czech and Slovak Leadership Studies. He managed to rescue a statue of the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak, by the sculptor Ivan Mestrovic, from benign neglect on the roof of Avery Fisher Hall. It was given a home in Stuyvesant Square Park on a pedestal of green granite designed by Mr. Pokorny, an amateur classical pianist.
Alex Cech (1927-2012)
Alex Cech was an active member of the Czech community in New York. He was president of the Association of Free Czechoslovak Sportsmen, an organization that sponsored skiing competitions and tennis matches. Alex was also instrumental in the revival of BBLA and served as its president. He lived in New York with his wife since 1958 until his death in late 2012. He escaped from Czechoslovakia in 1949, spent some time in Germany and Venezuela and then moved to New York. Alex’s first job in the United States was as head waiter at the Golden Door restaurant. He later bought a company that imported steel into the United States. After the fall of communism in his homeland, Alex began working for Pfizer as a liaison between the company and private buyers in Czechoslovakia.