LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Jan Ruzicka


November 20,1943-July 17, 2023

Jan Ruzicka passed away on July 17, 2023, in the John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek after a long and very difficult illness. Ruzicka was married for 51 years to his wife, Bohuslava (Slavka) Ruzicka, and is also survived by his sisters, Eva Kaplan in Lexington, Kentucky and Miroslava Pickova in the Czech Republic, and his nephew, Jaroslav Picka.

Born in Czechoslovakia, Jan immigrated to Canada in 1968 and to the USA in 1974. He settled in Bay Area, first in Oakland and then in El Sobrante. A mechanical engineer by profession, Jan worked in the Oil Business. He received his undergraduate degree in Czechoslovakia and later obtained a bachelor's degree and a master's in business administration from Golden Gate University in San Francisco. Jan's profession took him to many countries, too numerous to mention.

A guitar player for 60 years, Jan joined WhatsUp big band in Hayward, Senior Serenadors in El Sobrante, and was a member of the East Bay Banjo Club in Concord at the time of his death. As a member of the Banjo Club, Jan played at various retirement homes and festivals.

Since 2011, Jan represented the Orinda/Tabor Sister City Foundation during the Tabor historical festival in the Czech Republic. He will be missed on both sides of the Atlantic.

"The oil now cool.

The fire burns white.

Kindly and tall

they go with lights."

~From Quince on the Table by Vohuslav Reynek