Emery I. Balazs, 94, of Sunderland passed away peacefully on April 29, 2025 surrounded by family. Born in Velem, October 1930, Emery (Imre) lived through World War II and the formation of the Iron Curtain. In 1956, he escaped Hungary to start a new life in the United States, via Ohio, Wisconsin, and then the DC area.

In 1967 he married and upon returning to Maryland with his wife, he started his family. His son and daughter were born shortly after, and he settled in Bowie, Maryland. Throughout his life, Emery was a devoted family man. His family took trips often to Hungary to visit family, but also to France, Austria, Italy, France, Mexico, and around the United States. He enjoyed music especially opera, operetta, and Hungarian nóta. Every year he planted a garden and loved the outdoors, especially the forest which reminded him of his village in Hungary. Emery was an avid soccer fan and even took a trip with his son and daughter to see the Olympic soccer games in Orlando, Florida.

He went to university in Sopron, Hungary and graduated to become a Geodesist. When he came to the Washington, DC area, he was employed by the federal government agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). His career was spent at NOAA which took him on many trips including a year with his young family in Helsinki, Finland where he helped map Lapland near the Arctic Circle.

Emery is survived by his wife Valeria of Sunderland, sister Erzsébet Lukács and her husband Gábor of Kőszeg, Hungary, daughter Sylvia Fábián-Kovács and her husband Árpád of Budapest, Hungary, son John Balazs and his wife Veronica of Sunderland, and grandchildren Janos, Carlos, Réka, Árpád, and Attila. The rock-solid family man will be greatly missed. If everyone had a husband, father, and grandfather like him, this world would be a better place.

His ashes will be returned to his birth village, Velem, where a funeral will be held, and he will be surrounded by family and friends.