Obituary of Sanna M. Lomazov

Sanna Mathew Lomazov (1934-2016) passed away peacefully of natural causes on December 23, 2016 in Hollywood, Florida. She was 82 years old. Sanna was born in Minsk, Belarus to Matvey and Serafima Kutsy, a few years before Germany invaded the Soviet Union during World War II. It was thanks to her mother Serafima that the Kutsy family survived. Sanna’s father always listened to western radio stations and the family was forewarned that the attack from Germany was imminent. Serafima convinced her husband to leave Minsk immediately and they left in the middle of the night for Kiev, a much safer city at the time. Later during the war when Kiev itself was under attack, Matvey was able to evacuate his family first to the south of Ukraine and then further south, to Uzbekistan. After the war, the family came back to Kiev and Sanna went to high school No. 33 and music school No. 3 in the center of Kiev, schools her children would later attend as well. Sanna was an outstanding student and often called on to substitute for her teacher in history classes. She received the gold medal, the highest honor at her school upon graduation. Sanna attended the Kiev National Institute of Architecture and Structural Engineering and earned a degree in Structural Engineering, making a number of lifelong friends during those years. She went on to work on many important structures in manufacture and oil industries across the Soviet Union. Sanna married Semyon Lomazov in 1958 and they were married for forty years until Semyon’s death in 1999. Semyon was the love of Sanna’s life, a man of great intellect, compassion and integrity. They had two children, Vladimir and Marina, and lived together with Sanna’s parents in a three-room apartment located in the center of Kiev. Sanna placed the happiness, health, and safety of her family above all else. She completely devoted herself to her children and her husband, refusing promotions at work. Both children had excellent education, and were involved in many extracurricular activities with Sanna nurturing and guiding them through. Sanna was a talented and intelligent person who valued education above all and conveyed that love of knowledge to all who knew her. Her home was always open to family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances. Sanna told wonderful stories and was ready with support, advice and solace for anyone in their time of need. She gave without measure, with wisdom, warmth, and generosity. One more momentous decision in Sanna’s life was to immigrate to the United States in 1990. Sanna made that decision immediately after her husband Semyon’s work at a research institute was declassified and she told her friends that she believed the regime would collapse. Both Sanna and Semyon were 55 years old when they left for America, with little English language skills and no work experience in the United States. She articulated very clearly why they did so: so that her family could have a better future. Sanna went on to work for the Garrett Engineering firm in Rochester, New York working on numerous building projects across upstate New York. After Semyon passed away, Sanna retired and moved to Florida in 2002, living in the same building with several of her lifelong friends from the Kiev Institute of Architecture. During this time she met Vladimir Khait, a doctor of medicine from Toronto, Canada. They spent 10 happy years together traveling, enjoying Florida beaches, and spending time with friends and family. Sanna had great intellectual curiosity and enjoyed reading, discussion about the world and history and above all spending time with loved ones. She is survived by daughter Marina Lomazov and her husband Joseph Rackers, son Vladimir Lomazov, grandson Grisha Lomazov and his family, niece Valentina Scarlett and her husband Oleg Shkarlet, their daughter Nelli Mundy, nephew Sergei Kutsy and his family, cousin Sofa Koltunov and her husband Josef Koltunov, cousin Lyolya Gutkovskaya, sister-in-law Zheka Khazanov and her husband Valery Khazanov, their daughter Anna and son Igor. She will be deeply missed. Graveside Services will be held on TUESDAY, December 27, 2016 at 2 PM in Mt. Hope Cemetery. Donations may be made to Jewish Family Services of Broward County (100 South Pine Island Road, Suite 230, Plantation, FL 33324) in Sanna’s memory.