Written by Nancy Sokoler Steiner | Photographed by Michael Neveux

Name an aspect of aviation, and Joe Czyzyk has probably touched it through one of his businesses. As the former chairman and CEO of Mercury Air Group, Czyzyk (pronounced CHIH-zick; rhymes with "physic") led the largest ground handling companies at Los Angeles International Airport. He also developed numerous "under-the-wing" businesses involved in servicing and maintaining aircraft and providing jet fuel, as well as operating warehouses, hangars and passenger terminals on airports and U.S. military bases around the globe.

Meanwhile his wife, Farima (Faye) Czyzyk, focused on health. She worked as an emergency room nurse and nurse epidemiologist at hospitals including Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Valley Presbyterian Hospital, USC and St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood. As director of nursing at St. Francis, she supervised 600 nurses. She later transitioned to health care management and administration and consulting for Ernst & Young.

Joe and Faye moved from the Westside to Rolling Hills in 2013 and became Patrons five years later. In 2022, Joe experienced a health issue requiring a trip to Torrance Memorial Medical Center's emergency department. When they arrived, they were shocked.

"It felt like walking into a train station," Joe recalls. "There wasn't a single seat available in the waiting room, and people were standing outside waiting to get in. Seven or eight people waited in line at the little triage window."

With her background in health care, Faye understands the importance of triage—the process of screening and sorting patients based on the urgency and severity of their health conditions. It troubled her that the process might be delayed due to enormous community demand and patient volume. (Last year the Torrance Memorial Emergency Department treated over 107,000 patients.)

The couple shared their concern with Judith Gassner, senior director of development and principal gifts. She told them about the medical center's plans to double the capacity of the emergency department. The new two-story facility, which broke ground on September 24, 2024, will feature more than 80 treatment spaces and integrate the latest medical technologies. It is scheduled for the second floor completion in 2026.

Faye and Joe quickly decided this project deserved their support. As a result, the couple donated $1.5 million to the Torrance Memorial Emergency Department for triage expansion and modernization.

"We recognize the emergency room that was built decades ago was not designed to handle the load it handles today," says Joe. Faye adds, "We committed ourselves to expediting triage for anyone who walks in and needs immediate care, because it's vital to be triaged within a very short time after arriving at the emergency department."

The Czyzyks, both born abroad, embody the American Dream and the opportunities it offers to hardworking immigrants. "We're very patriotic Americans because it's only when you've lived in foreign countries that you know how favorably the United States compares. Despite what goes on in the political environment, there's no place like it," says Joe.

Before his birth, Joe's parents fled from Poland to Russia and remained constantly on the run to evade the Nazis. After World War II, they returned to Poland, but no other members of their families had survived the Holocaust. Toddler Joe and his parents left Poland in 1949. They eventually received asylum from Canada and made their home in Montreal for over a decade.

One of Joe's fondest memories is crossing the bridge from Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, Michigan, in 1963. He and his parents became American citizens and settled in Los Angeles.

After two years in college, Joe enlisted in the Seabees, the U.S. Naval Construction Forces. He served two tours overseas in Vietnam. Returning in 1969, Joe completed his education at California State University, Los Angeles with the help of the GI Bill and became a civil engineer.

With jobs hard to come by in 1971, Joe worked at a bank for a few years. A customer who managed the United Airlines regional office in Los Angeles encouraged him to apply for a job there.

"That was the beginning of an aviation career that today is 58 years old," says Joe. The United job led to diverse positions in the airline industry. In 1984, Joe joined Mercury Air Group to develop their air cargo business. He was named the company's president and CEO in 1999. Mercury Air was listed on the American Stock Exchange for more than three decades until Joe took the company private in 2006.

"I've had tremendous satisfaction establishing the businesses and watching them grow and succeed. I enjoyed hiring people, putting them to work and making them part of our company family," says Joe, who has since sold most of his businesses. "Even today, although I'm down to fewer than 100 employees, three of them have been with the company for more than 50 years."

Joe has traveled to more than 100 countries and established businesses in more than 50 of them. He has visited every continent except for Antarctica and would like to go there one day. He returned from a business trip to Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong three months prior to speaking with Patrons. "We at our company still believe in the personal touch, and I'll get on a plane to Asia to let our customers know we appreciate their business," he says.

Philanthropy plays a major role for the Czyzyks, and they support a range of organizations and causes in addition to Torrance Memorial. "I believe everyone who is successful in business should give back to the community because it's the community that has contributed to their success," says Joe. "Our satisfaction is in helping other people achieve their dream."

Faye and Joe donated $1.5 million to the Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. The gift supports research into the early identification of high-risk cardiac patients and improves access to and affordability of coronary artery calcium (CAC) testing.

Having benefitted from the test there, Faye wanted to make it available to those unable to afford it. It bothers her that people often forgo potentially lifesaving measures due to financial constraints. They have also made endowments to urology research at Keck Hospital of USC.

In addition to supporting hospitals, the couple has remained very committed to the Chabad movement and donates their time and philanthropy to a number of Chabad centers. They also direct their philanthropy to veterans. Joe has been a board member of U.S.VETS, a national organization dedicated to alleviating homelessness among veterans, since 2012 and served as board chair from 2016 to 2022.

"As a veteran, I understand how vets deal with life after they've served," says Joe. "I consider myself very lucky that I did not bear the traumas of many veterans who served in Vietnam, who continue to bear those invisible wounds. After I was wounded overseas, I came home to a nation hostile to veterans. Thanks to the support from my parents and my community, I got my life back together and did something with it. But there are lots of homeless veterans out there. A veteran who is homeless and remains untreated is a national disgrace, and U.S.VETS will continue to lead and grow in providing housing and rehabilitation for our veterans until there are no more homeless veterans."

More than a decade ago, former Governor Jerry Brown appointed Joe to the Governor's Military Council, a state commission position he still holds. In this role, he serves as a liaison between California and the Department of Defense.

Joe has served on the board of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, including as chairman in 2011, and he has served as chairman of the board of advisors for Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy. He was appointed to the Los Angeles Transportation Commission by then-Mayor Richard Riordan in 1999 and went on to serve as the president of the city's Taxicab Commission for 12 years.

Faye and Joe were introduced by a mutual friend. For Joe, it was love at first sight. ("For Faye, it was love at 10th sight," he jokes.) Next year they will celebrate 40 years of marriage. They have four adult children and two grandchildren. The couple enjoys traveling and looks forward to visiting France later this year.

"We have multiple homes but love our Rolling Hills home the most. The close-knit community, the panoramic views, the spacious properties are testimonials to the love we have for this community. Rolling Hills and the South Bay will always be our home. Our backgrounds of hard work, compassionate outreach and our own close relationship have made all of this possible," says Joe.

Faye and Joe have spent the last three years working on their extensive garden, which boasts many fruit trees and rose gardens. "It's very satisfying to nourish and care for the trees and plants and see them bear flowers and fruit as a result," Faye says.

Now the Czyzyks are cultivating Torrance Memorial Medical Center, planting seeds for growth that will nurture the community's health for decades to come and helping propel the medical center into the next century of excellent care.