Obituary

By Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News

Dr. Luis R. Fanego fled his native Cuba to protect his children from Communist indoctrination, then established a successful family practice in Metro Detroit.

Dr. Fanego was a doctor with a large private practice in Cuba until Fidel Castro’s government took over in 1959. He finally decided to leave the country for the sake of his children.

“There were rumors of taking children to schools for indoctrination. For my father, it was about protecting his children. He considered that a sacred right,” said his daughter, Ana Maria Fanego-Francus.

Dr. Fanego died from a stroke on Monday, June 21, 2004, in Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak. The Bloomfield Hills resident was 77.

In 1961, Dr. Fanego became concerned his children would undergo Communist indoctrination. So, he put his wife, son, daughter and parents on an airplane bound for Chicago.

Dr. Fanego, who earned his medical degree from the University of Havana, later obtained permission to join his family in this country before Castro halted the exodus of Cuba’s upper- and middle-class professionals.

In the United States, Dr. Fanego had to recertify his medical expertise through examinations and a second internship. When that was completed, he established a family medicine practice in Lincoln Park.

“I think initially, he (thought) he would someday go back (to Cuba),” his daughter said. “But he made his friends and his success here. As I grew up, I never heard him harbor any great fantasy about going back.”

Dr. Fanego obtained U.S. citizenship in 1968. He maintained his connection with former Cuban professionals as an active member of the group, Cuban Doctors in Exile.

“I don’t know if he ever really felt truly like an American,” Fanego-Francus said. “We spoke Spanish in our home and ate Cuban food. But he was grateful and loved this country.”

Survivors include his wife, Ana Maria Fanego; two sons, Luis F. and Jose; a daughter, Ana Maria Fanego-Francus; and four grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 3-8 p.m. today at the A.J. Desmond & Sons Funeral Home, 32515 Woodward in Royal Oak. A prayer service will be held at 7 p.m.

A funeral Mass was to be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Hugo of the Hills Stone Chapel, 2215 Opdyke in Bloomfield Hills. Burial will be in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield.