Stasa memorial mass on Saturday

Josef Stasa, who worked as an urbanist for the Harvard University Planning Office for more than 25 years, passed away on Feb. 17 in Cambridge at the age of 85.

Born Oct. 10, 1923, in Zlín, Czechoslovakia, Stasa immigrated to Canada in 1951 to escape Communist-ruled Czechoslovakia in search of a “free cultural life.” Eight years later, he received a master’s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then wed Martha Bokuvka in Vienna, Austria.

Stasa, a longtime member of Adams House Senior Common Room, will be remembered as a gentle man. Aside from urbanism and architecture, his other interests included Czech literature, poetry, literary history, traveling, classical music, and Olympic sports.

He is survived by his wife; daughters, Marcella and Nadette; and son-in-law, Bill Taylor. There will be a memorial mass for him at St. Paul Catholic Church in Cambridge on March 14 at 11 a.m.