Obituary of Eva Barczay-Miller

Eva Barczay, the daughter of Tibor and Eva (nee Havas) Barczay, died peacefully at her home in Reston, VA on February 7, 2023 at the age of 82, after a five-month struggle with brain cancer.  Born in Budapest, Hungary, on July 21, 1940, Eva emigrated to the United States at the age of eight with her parents and younger brother George, settling in New Jersey.  Though Eva knew no English when she arrived in the US, she was an avid reader and quickly learned the language. Despite experiencing poverty and the loss of her mother, she graduated from Princeton High School and received a degree in political science from Douglass College. She subsequently earned a PhD in comparative literature from Rutgers University. 

At Rutgers she met her husband Stephen Miller, a fellow doctoral student, whom she married in 1967. After teaching literature at Trenton State college, Eva moved with her family to Reston, VA, where she became closely connected to her community. She held several editorial jobs before working for the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (a branch of the federal government) for two decades, rising to the level of senior analyst.  Eva was very interested in other cultures and traveled extensively in Europe, the Middle East, and Australia. Though she loved living in the US, she kept strong ties to her relatives in Hungary, visiting them countless times.  In addition to her love of reading, Eva enjoyed visiting museums as well as attending concerts, plays and ballet performances. Her passion was international folk dancing, which she did twice a week for four decades. She was also a devoted grandmother–or “Nagyi”--to her three grandsons, frequently taking them to museums and sights in Washington, New York, and London. Eva was an immensely energetic person whose warmth, kindness, intelligence, and humor were enjoyed by many relatives and innumerable friends in Europe and the United States. 

She is predeceased by her brother George. She is survived by her husband of 55 years, Stephen Miller; her brother Stephen Barczay; her daughters Elizabeth Miller and Katherine Miller-Darras; her son-in-law Dimitri Darras; her sister-in-law Kati Barczay, her grandchildren Theo, Alex, and Kieran, and her nieces Sari Barczay and Nora Barczay (Max Roland). 

A memorial service is being planned for early to mid-March.