Special to the Record
Todd Taylor, past president of the Chelsea Rotary Club and District 1 City Councillor, issued the following statement honoring the life of fellow Rotarian and Club President Dan Pranka:
“It is with great sadness that the Chelsea Rotary Club announces the passing of its President, Dan Pranka. Dan passed away on December 8, 2021, at the age of 84. Many of us in Rotary said our final goodbye at a graveside service at Puritan Lawn Memorial Park in Peabody.
Dan joined the Saugus Rotary Club in 1993 and transferred to the Chelsea Rotary Club in 2018. He was inaugurated as President of Chelsea Rotary in July of this year. From the beginning, Dan was instrumental in our fundraising efforts. He used his connections with the airlines, Boston professional sports teams, and his own travel business to provide prizes for our Chelsea Rotary Charitable Foundation raffles which help pay for a variety of projects including: college Scholarships for local Chelsea High students, sending local Chelsea kids to Camp Rotary every summer, funding our Chelsea Covid Relief efforts, funding our ongoing water project in Columbia (started by Rotarian Juan Gallego), along with many other worthy projects that Rotary does every year.
Dan was a great Rotarian, receiving our Rotarian of the Year award in 2019. But more than that, he was a beautiful person and a good friend with a truly generous spirit. Our deepest condolences go to Judy Pranka, Dan’s wife of 56 years. She was a real friend of the club, and always assisting Dan in all he did. The Chelsea Rotary Board of Directors unanimously elected me to serve out the rest of Dan’s term as Chelsea Rotary President. I am grateful for the club’s confidence and with a heavy heart I accepted. After the graveside service, we held Dan’s final raffle at our regular Tuesday meeting, which he had arranged just prior to his passing. It was a great financial success. It was an honor and a pleasure to serve our community side by side with Dan Pranka. He was a terrific guy with a big heart, and he will be missed by all.