Hannelore Zander Eck, 93, of Kalamazoo, MI died Sunday, June 28, 2015, at Rose Arbor Hospice in Kalamazoo. She is survived by her son John E. Eck and daughter-in-law Jennifer Stucker of Cincinnati, OH and Corea, ME; by her son Stephen L. Eck and daughter-in-law Katherine C. Eck of Wilmette, IL; by three grandchildren, Elizabeth Eck of Queens, NY, Caroline Eck of Wilmette, IL, Emily B. Eck of Halifax, NS; and by her nephew Patrick Bahen of Mechanicsville, VA, and her nieces, Loren Zander of Falls Church, VA and Peggy Enrich of Lexington, MA.
Hannelore Eck was born in 1921, in Leipzig, Germany, the daughter of Ernst and Margaret Zander. In 1939, she and her parents emigrated to England, where they spent the war years, enduring the blitz, rationing, and other hardships. Her father died there. In 1945, she and her mother immigrated to the United States to join her brother Henry Zander in Chicago, who had come to the United States in 1937. . She graduated from Roosevelt College in Chicago and met Sherwood B. Eck, a then graduate student at the University of Chicago. They were married in 1950 and moved to Kalamazoo. Mrs. Eck was an employee of the Upjohn Company for many years where she worked as a secretary and later as a translator. Her early experiences with gross intolerance guided her actions throughout her life. She was a fierce, fearless and constant champion for the rights of minorities, women, and immigrants, communities. She was active in many civic organizations including Amnesty International, Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, The People’s Church of Kalamazoo, and Lemkin House. In her final months, she received considerable support from her many friends, for which she was extremely grateful.
Her family will always remember the many rich, sad, and funny stories she told of her life, often ending them with a famous Italian quote she learned from her father, “Se non è vero, è ben trovato”.
A memorial service will be held at The People’s Church at a date to be announced donations may be sent to The People’s Church of Kalamazoo.