Alex Lengyel

Alexander Arthur Lengyel (Alex)

May 1, 1923  -  May 12, 2019

Alex Lengyel, age 96, of Moon Township died peacefully on May 12.  Alex was born at the home of his parents Louis and Elizabeth (Simon) Lengyel in the Pittock section of Stowe Township.

He was preceded in death by his brother Dave and sisters Mary (Schuch) and Elizabeth (Buzogany).  He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Mary (Kennedy) Lengyel, and sons Alex (Deanna), Paul (Kim), Carl (Venus) and David (Rebecca).  He also has eight grandchildren, whom he loved dearly.

Alex was a 1941 graduate of Stowe High School, after which he went to work as a ship fitter at Dravo on Neville Island.  In 1943 he enlisted into the US Army Air Corps and was a fighter pilot based in England, later becoming an aerial gunnery instructor in the United States.

After the war, he became a home builder.  From his first home build in 1949, framed “by himself with a hammer and a hand saw”, through the next four decades Alex built hundreds of residences.  His homes were noted for their quality of materials and workmanship.  He eventually became one of the premier custom home builders in the western area of Pittsburgh, and was sought after for high end residential projects.

Alex was an accomplished smallbore rifle shooter and an avid outdoorsman.  He competed in the Pittsburgh and Suburban Rifle League and the Beaver County Conservation Shooting League for many years.  A founding member of the Pittock Rod and Gun Club, many a whitetailed buck, but never a doe, fell to his trusty .270 Model 70 along with western mule deer, elk and antelope.  In his later years he and his lifelong buddy George Metz pursued trout with a zeal that bordered on science.  Together, Alex and George were among the early anglers that fished the tributaries of Lake Erie for steelheads.  He taught all of his grandchildren to fish, and some of his happiest memories were of “fishin’ with the grandkids”.

Alex was twice diagnosed with cancer.  He beat colorectal and liver cancer the same way he beat every other impediment in life  -  by powering straight through them. 

Alex Lengyel was a man who lived his life according to his own terms.  In lieu of flowers, he wishes that you put that money in the bank  -  like anyone with an ounce of common sense would do.

Visitation Thursday at Copeland’s Coraopolis 2-4, 6-8. Mass 10 AM Friday at St. Joseph’s Church, followed by burial at St. Mary’s Help of Christians Cemetery.

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