Zsigmond Moses Vincze

Zsigmond Moses Vincze, 95, Overland Park, Kansas, passed away Sunday January 23, 2011.

Zsigmond was the son of Louis and Julia Vincze of Zelienople. At Zelienople High, Zsig lettered in football and basketball and was a member of the National Honor Society. He was the first licensed Flight Engineer and flew for Trans World Airlines. During World War II he flew the Boeing Stratoliner and Douglas DC-4 in the Air Transport Command and met the King and Queen of England delivering Norden Bombsights to defeat the axis powers. He was Council Chairman of the Flight Engineers Union and was an early advocate for scheduling and safety. He thwarted a hijacking of an airliner enroute to New York. He owned private airplanes and flew often between New York, Washington, and Pittsburgh. He appeared in a series of advertisements for the Hudson automobile. He was co-President of the U.S. Air Force Academy Parents Club of Long Island with his wife Michelena.

Zsig married Michelena Witkowski in 1954 and built his house entirely by himself in Old Westbury, New York. He loved gardening, trips to the beach and snow skiing and lived through an exciting age of flying from working on DC-3’s to flying the Constellation and 747. They had five children James, Diana, Robert, Edward, Richard, and eleven grandchildren. He is also survived by two sisters, Flora Day and Esther Smith.

Visitation and Funeral Service

Viewing will be from 10-11 am on Thursday, January 27, 2011, followed by a service at St. Peter’s Reformed Church on Grandview Avenue, Zelienople, Pennsylvania; Burial to follow at St. Peter’s Cemetery.