Obituary of Joseph Lukacs

March 22, 1934 – Ujvarfalva, Hungary

March 26, 2024 – Calgary, Alberta

Joseph (Joe) Lukacs, beloved husband of the late Helen (Ilona) Lukacs of Calgary, passed away peacefully with family by his side on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, at the age of 90 years.

Joe was born in a one-room mud house made by his father. His parents, Janos and Teresa Lukacs, were farmers trying to make a living on a tiny piece of land that produced little. It is from these humble beginnings against the backdrop of the brutality of WWII that Joe developed his survival and entrepreneurial skills. Although he preferred to spend time on the farm with his brother Karol, he excelled in school, especially in physics. He was overjoyed when he was accepted to the Technical University of Budapest in 1953.

But his world collapsed a week into the school year when the university learned he had not declared that his parents were peasant landowners, a privilege frowned upon under Stalin’s rule, and he was expelled. Joe found a job as a mine worker and, claiming he was an orphan, was accepted the following year at the University of Miskolc to study mining engineering, later changing to petroleum engineering. It was here at a dance on campus where he met a mesmerizing young lady, Helen.

In the fall of 1956, Joe and his small petroleum engineering class transferred to the University of Sopron, bordering Austria. Soon after, the Hungarian Revolution began on October 23, as Hungary rose up against Communist rule. When Soviet tanks rolled into the country to crush the revolution, the entire faculty and student body at the university fled to Austria, with Joe among them.

Canada was among several countries ready to welcome the group of well-educated refugees. With a promise that he could bring his fiancée with him, Joe saw no option but to venture back deep into Hungary to find Helen. Their journey to freedom was terrifying, passing through several checkpoints under armed guard and staring down the gun barrels of Russian tanks as they crossed the bridge over the Danube in Budapest. 

Joe and Helen arrived in Canada at Pier 21 in Halifax on January 15, 1957, with nothing but the clothes on their backs, Joe’s love letters to Helen, and two cookbooks. They were married a month later at the Hungarian church in Toronto.

Joe was accepted at the University of Alberta and graduated with his bachelor of science in petroleum engineering in 1959 and his master’s degree in chemical engineering in 1962.

Joe began his career in the gas processing industry with Canadian Fina Oil with field jobs in Redwater, Cochrane and Whitecourt. In 1965, he started a new company called Western Research and Development with his mentor, Rod McDaniel. It was through Western Research that Alberta gas plants started recovering over 99 percent of the sulphur in their gas, and Alberta became a model of environmental efficiency for the world. Soon, his team was known as the “sulphur doctors” and worked anywhere in the world that had sour gas. He became an internationally respected leader in industrial pollution control and was involved in the Air & Waste Management Association (AWMA) for over 50 years in various executive roles. His work positioned Alberta internationally as having the cleanest sour gas plants and having technical expertise and problem-solving abilities to tackle large environmental issues.

As his retirement project, Joe took on the role of founding President and CEO of CETAC-WEST, established to help small to medium-sized enterprises commercialize environmental technologies. Entrepreneurs credit CETAC with creating thousands of jobs, generating millions in wages and hundreds of millions in revenue. Joe worked till the end, attending Teams meetings until a month before his passing.

Joe earned numerous awards and recognitions, including multiple awards from the AWMA and the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta. In 2022, Joe received the Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal (Alberta). Most recently, in October 2023, he was inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence.

A proud Albertan, Joe embraced Alberta’s and Calgary’s ranching heritage and purchased a hobby ranch in the Square Butte area, where he partnered with a group of Red Angus breeders to form the Canadian Dynamite Breeders.

Joe’s happy place was the ranch, where he would host his famous horseshoe tournament, as well as barbeques for friends and business associates. He also enjoyed the hours of solitude on his tractor, grooming the grass fields. 

Proud of his family, Joe cherished precious time at family dinners and spending time at the ranch with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Joe was predeceased by Helen, his beloved wife of 65 years in 2022 and his brother Karol in 2021. Joe is survived by his sons, Zoltan (Marie), Attila and Joe; his grandchildren, Rob (Lara), Katie, Laura (Chris), Hayley and Kale; his beloved great-grandchildren, Zoe, Beckham and Easton; and several dear relatives in Hungary.

Joe was blessed to have several close friends and associates, many of whom were like family to him, in particular Margaret Kelly, his close friend and business associate of 30 years, who was by his side at CETAC and during his and Helen’s illnesses.

We are forever grateful for the exceptional care and companionship provided by Raman and Hanifa, who were at Helen’s side, then Joe’s, to the end. Special thanks also to the Palliative Care Team at Alberta Health Services, the team at Beyond Neighbours, and the staff at the Tom Baker Cancer Center.

Funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church (819 13 Ave SW, Calgary, AB) on Thursday, April 11, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. Reception and tributes to follow at the Glencoe Club (636 29 Ave SW, Calgary, AB).

If friends so desire, please consider a donation to OWN.CANCER (Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre) https://owncancer.ca/, Southern Alberta Institute of Urology c/o Calgary’s Prostate Cancer Centre, Rockyview General Hospital, 6500 – 7007 14 Street SW, Calgary, AB, T2V 1P9, Telephone: 403-943-8888, www.prostatecancercentre.ca, or the Alberta Cancer Foundation, 710 -10123 99 St NW, Edmonton, AB,  T5J 3H1, Telephone: 1-866-412-4222, www.albertacancer.ca

Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared and viewed with Joseph’s family here.

In living memory of Joseph Lukacs, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McInnis & Holloway Funeral Homes, Park Memorial, 5008 Elbow Drive SW, Calgary, AB T2S 2L5, Telephone: 403-243-8200.