Ivan Stanko

Ivan Stanko MD, 85, of Rothschild, died December 29th, 2024, at a local hospital of complications related to acute leukemia.

He was born on March 28, 1939, to Andrej and Gabriella Stanko in Topolcany, Czechoslovakia. With his younger brother, they moved to Bratislava in the post-WWII period. Upon completion of medical school, with some compulsory military service thrown in for good measure, he moved to Michalovce to start his medical practice. There he met Anna Pancakova, and they married July 24, 1965.

Ivan and Anna became refugees when the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968. They were granted asylum in the US and initially settled in Columbus, Ohio, before Ivan was accepted into a residency position in the Department of Neurology at the University of Arizona. In 1972, on completion of his training, Ivan, Anna, and their young family all moved to Wausau. Ivan would begin multiple decades of neurology practice, dedicated in the care of his patients at the Wausau Medical Center and then Marshfield Clinic.

In his free time, he loved gardening, classical music, track and field, the Green Bay Packers, and the Wisconsin Badgers. Most of all, he loved attending his grandsons’ sports and musical performances and being a part of all of their life events.

Ivan is survived by his wife of 59 years Anna, brother Peter, daughter Susan, son Peter, daughter-in-law Heather, and grandsons Alexander and Samuel.

Visitation services will be held Saturday, January 11, 2025, from Noon- 3:00 pm at Brainard Funeral Home and Cremation Center-Everest Chapel.

Ivan was a compassionate physician and proud American, a humanist and Holocaust survivor. In place of flowers or gifts, please consider planting a garden in his memory or making a gift to the Community Foundation of North Central Wisconsin, the United States Olympic Committee or the Center for Inquiry in his name.

Ivan’s family is grateful for the care and kindness Ivan received from the medical professionals at Marshfield Clinic and Marshfield Clinic Medical Center-Weston.