There may have been local restauranteurs who made bigger impacts on the local foodiesphere than Andre Lengacher, but none who did it with a bigger and warmer personality.
If there was any doubt how much the owner-operator of devoutly social Lugano Swiss Bistro (626-3779) loved to make people happy, it came with his last Oktoberfest this fall.
Even as he wrestled with his fourth bout of cancer, he organized the whole festive affair and—in one particularly Andre-esque moment—led a dance line with a wide and glowing grin.
Longtime local food writer and friend Mike Hale framed it well when he cited a Brendon Burchard quote—“At the end of our lives we all ask: Did I live? Did I love? Did I matter?”—and added:
On his worst days, his body ravaged by cancer and forced to speak through a vocalizer following the removal of his larynx, Andre Lengacher could smile and answer yes to all three of the above questions…
In the end Lengacher’s life and death left us all with a lesson: Our journey is too short to spend it miserable.
The good news about him finally, and peacefully, succumbing to cancer that spread to his lungs—after he survived cancer in his bladder, vocal chords and neck—is that he had time to say goodbye to his countless pals who came to see him in the hospital and hold his hand.
Not that it makes life without him any easier for people like his partner and wife Nargis Lengacher.
"I miss a man who was always a happy man," she says. "Everything he did was with passion. Even small projects. He was just so passionate in what he did. And he was an amazing husband besides everything else. He was fun-loving. He loved life."
It turns out that on top of planning and executing Oktoberfest 2016, he has already planned Oktoberfest back at The Barnyard in Carmel, having booked The Internationals to play Bavarian music.
But Nargis couldn't imagine doing it.
"Not the same without him," she decided.
Only then, she remembers: "It was like voice came to me, from Andre, 'Please do it.'
"And all his friends said 'We need to do it, for him.'"
His 70th birthday would've been in September, so it's only fitting that 2017's Oktoberfest will be Sept. 16-17.
It should be one hell of a birthday party.
Much of the proceeds from the festival will go to cancer-fighting foundations.
When asked about his legacy for the people he came into contact with, Nargis doesn't hesitate.
"Just think of him whenever you're feeling sad," she says. "How much life he brought. How he was so happy, even with cancer.
"He was there, dancing."