Former Anchorage, Alaska RBA Mike Rohacek, 58, died August 9, 2002, of liver and kidney failure while vacationing in Las Vegas. Rohacek was born in Czechoslovakia in 1944. After the Communist takeover in 1947, his parents bribed guards and escaped to Germany. The family was interned in displaced-persons camps in Germany and Italy before immigrating to the United States. Mr., Rohacek began college, but interrupted his studies to join the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He served in Germany, where he met his future wife, Linda. Both CPA's, Mike and Linda moved to Anchorage in 1978 and began a CPA firm for which he worked until a year or two before his death.

Mr. Rohacek enjoyed reading and participated in many sports. He became an avid bicycle rider, going on many tours in Europe, especially France, with Linda. In recent years, Mike became a brevet organizer for Randonneurs USA and participated in the 1999 Paris-Brest-Paris 1200 K, but did not finish. Mike Rohacek can be legitimately called the father of Alaskan Randonneuring. We will miss him.

Bob Voris
RBA
Anchorage, AL