George J. Mezey

George Julius Mezey, of Camillus, passed away Saturday, February 19, 2011 at University Hospital after battling illness the last six months. Born Sunday, June 5, 1927 in Szeged, Hungary, he was the son of Mihály and Valéria Mezey. George left Hungary in 1944 as the Russians began their final push into Budapest during World War II and escaped into Germany. He worked there for the U.S. Army and also lived and worked as an assistant to Count Arco. After the war, George moved to Canberra, Australia where he worked for the National University of Australia building research facilities for the Engineering Department. It was in Australia that he invented a brick making machine and started his own engineering company. He met his future wife in 1955, a visiting graduate student from Altoona, Pennsylvania, and in October 1956 he married Susan M. Holtzinger and the couple moved to Toronto, Canada. He and his family moved to Syracuse in 1958 and he became the chief engineer for M.A. Bongiovanni, Inc. General Contractor, specializing in water and wastewater facility construction. In the early 1970s, George started his own construction company building water and wastewater related facilities in and around Central New York. In 1974, he went to work for H. Sand & Co. as the project manager for the reconstruction of the Syracuse Metro Wastewater Treatment Plant. At the completion of the Metro project, he became executive vice-president of H. Sand & Co., a Skanska Company, headquartered in New York City. During his tenure at H. Sand, he was responsible for hundreds of significant projects in the New York City area. Two of the most notable were the rebuilding of the World Trade Center after the first bombing in 1992 and the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant, one of the largest of its kind in the world. He retired from Skanska in 1996 but he continued to work locally, providing consulting services and working on new patents. George was a big believer in environmental and green energy technology. He was well recognized in the Camillus area for his lifelong community service. He cherished the friends he made in the Camillus Optimist and the Camillus Ski Assn. As an Optimist member, he spearheaded the club’s efforts to establish the Camillus Ski Assn. He was the first president of the association. He spent many days and nights at the “Ski Hill” leading the efforts in the early days to build and maintain the facilities still in use today. All of his children skied there. Surviving are his wife, Susan; children, George E. and Nancy Mezey of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Phillip and Toni Mezey of San Antonio, Texas, Susan and Nick Caronna of Cary, North Carolina, Julia and Brian Lachman of York, Pennsylvania and Lydia and Tom West of Marcellus; 15 grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. Relatives and friends may call Friday, February 25 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Buranich Funeral Home, 5431 W. Genesee St., Camillus. A memorial service will be held Saturday, February 26 at 10 a.m. at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in George’s memory to the Camillus Ski Assn., Blackmore Rd., Camillus, NY 13031 or to the Optimist Club of Camillus, P.O. Box 33, Camillus, NY 13031.