March 11, 2026

My kind, gentle, and brilliant father, Dr. Miguel Lennhoff, died two years ago on this date. This tribute is long overdue, but my broken heart has only now allowed me to put these words together.

In these most difficult and precarious times, I wish those in leadership positions could be more like my father, who was a deeply caring and gentle person who sought healing, not destruction and devastation.

My father was a physician – in the tradition of the practitioner-researcher model (often known as the physician-scientist). He was always growing and learning, always fascinated by science and nature, and the human condition.

My father always taught us that, above all else, “your health is your wealth.”

My father, Dr. Miguel Lennhoff, believed this so completely, and practiced this belief through his work as a physician – he worked as a nephrologist (kidney specialist) in Mexico, and then a psychiatrist here in the U.S. once we immigrated from Mexico. He reminded me and my brothers (and our friends) that our real wealth in this life was not money and possessions, but our health.

Both of my parents abhorred injustice in all of its forms, and ardently believed in and supported human rights, and economic and environmental justice. These values were very clearly expressed in our family home.

My parents also supported immigrants, and understood the need and desire of immigrants to leave their countries of origin in the search for safety, security, and a better life for their families. They were immigrants themselves, and my brothers and I immigrated with our parents to the U.S. from Mexico in the 1970s.

Our beloved mother, Marja-Liisa Lennhoff Eskelinen, died on July 4, 2020. My father’s heartbreak and sorrow were profound, and his health began to decline. I am so incredibly fortunate to be able to work for this wonderful organization, which allowed me to travel frequently to Texas to help care for my father and work remotely. Both of my brothers and I pulled together to care for our father in his home. I am the only one of us three who could work remotely, so I often provided the in-home 24/7 care that was increasingly needed in the last few months, weeks, and days of my father’s life.

As many of you have experienced, being a caregiver for an elderly parent can be the most intense and exhausting thing that we are ever called on to do. I would, of course, do it all over again in a heartbeat. It was the honor of my life to be able to care for my father. Toward the end, I slept on a cot in my father’s room, and my father would wake up at random times at night and we would sit and talk. He would gently tell me to go back to sleep, but I didn’t want to miss out on a moment with him while he was alert. Every moment was a gift to me and I cherish the time that we got to spend together.

In case you care to read it, below is an excerpt from my father’s obituary. It is lengthy, but my father had an interesting and beautiful life, and I want to share this with CCHCC’s supporters because I believe that we share many of the same values that guided my father’s life, both personally and professionally.

I thank you for your support of our organization and the work that we do. My father was proud of me and the work we do at CCHCC. He thought every community around the country should have an organization like CCHCC. However, CCHCC is truly unique, and there is no other organization like ours in the country. Thank you for your support!

From my father’s obituary:

Dr. Michael (Miguel) Lennhoff Bander of Boerne, TX passed away at home on the morning of March 11, 2024. His children – Michael, Claudia, and Victor – were at his side. He was 84 years old.

Miguel (born Michael) was a WWII baby, born on June 1, 1939 in Paris, France, to his mother, Martha Bander and father Herbert Lennhoff. He was an only child. Miguel was born as his mother Martha was fleeing the Nazis from Austria and Germany. Martha and her family were Jewish and living in Austria when the Nazi persecution of the Jews began. Sadly, most of Martha’s family members were killed in Nazi concentration camps. She was fleeing the Nazis when she was pregnant and trying to leave Europe for safety. She recalled the lights flaring from artillery being fired, which she could see from her hospital room in Paris, where she delivered her baby, Michael.

After a harrowing journey across many countries and oceans, Martha ended up in Mexico City, Mexico, when Michael was only 2 years old. Once in Mexico, his name became “Miguel”.

Miguel’s life was miraculous. His life started in war, poverty, and with a terrible but ultimately successful journey to a country that he long considered home – Mexico – thanks to his mother Martha’s valiant struggle to survive and to make the uncertain journey to another continent and another country.

Michael – whose name in Spanish was “Miguel” – grew up in Mexico City, Mexico, primarily in the Colonia Escandon area of Mexico City.

He was a sensitive and gentle child, and he loved animals and birds and nature. Miguel ultimately grew up to become a physician, and he spoke several languages including Spanish, English, and some German and French.

Miguel was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Marja-Liisa, who died on July 4, 2020. They were married for just over 57 years at the time of Marja-Liisa’s death.

Miguel was a true gentleman – he was deeply kind, patient, respectful, and gentle. He was gentle with people, and he was gentle with animals.

Miguel’s youth in Mexico was spent with his mother, Martha, and their various pets, including a parakeet that Miguel loved deeply. He also spent his youth with his friends who loved to hike and bicycle the various mountains around Mexico City.

Miguel studied medicine at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, from which he later graduated with his medical degree and then practiced as a Nephrology and Internal Medicine physician.

In the process of becoming a physician, Miguel traveled to the United States in the early 1960s for his medical residency in White Plains, NY, where he met his cherished wife, Marja-Liisa, who was a nurse at the hospital (she was also an immigrant, but from Finland).

Marja-Liisa spotted Miguel Lennhoff as soon as he arrived at the White Plains hospital, and felt that he could use some “looking-after” – he seemed so gentle and naïve to her, and she felt that he could use her help in adjusting to life at the White Plains hospital. But, as Miguel tells it, as soon as he saw Marja-Liisa, he instantly thought to himself, “I will marry her.” And so, their love story began and they were married on June 20, 1963 in White Plains, NY. They had quietly eloped and were married by a justice of the peace.

A young Dr. Miguel Lennhoff in White Plains, NY.

After getting married in White Plains, NY, Miguel and Marja-Liisa moved to Mexico, where Miguel started his medical career as a Nephrologist and Internal Medicine physician at the public hospital

Miguel and Marja-Liisa started growing their family in Mexico City, where eldest son Michael was born in 1964, followed by daughter Claudia in 1966. The young family then moved from Mexico City to Monterrey, Mexico.

Besides working in the public hospital, Miguel’s work also involved him working as a public health physician, where he would do “house calls” to patients living in the community, including in shanties on the roof tops of buildings and in neighborhoods. Miguel told his son Victor that his best experience working as a doctor was at the hospital in Mexico.

In 1970, Miguel was granted a prestigious research fellowship in Montreal, Canada at the Royal Victoria Hospital and McGill University.

Miguel and Marja-Liisa moved the family to Montreal, Canada in 1970 for Miguel’s work as a medical researcher. They drove to Montreal from Monterrey, Mexico in a tiny VW beetle, carrying their two young children, Michael and Claudia, and camping gear and various possessions in the VW. They stopped and camped along the way.

Miguel did not enjoy his research fellowship in Canada because it involved experimenting on dogs. His deep love of animals led him to resign as a matter of conscience and move the family back to Monterrey, Mexico in 1971.

And, when they were moving back to Mexico in late 1971, they traveled back the same way – driving through three countries in the small VW Beetle – but this time Marja-Liisa was pregnant with their youngest son, Victor, who was born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1972. The children – Michael and Claudia – remember these trips as “fun” and enjoyed camping along the way. Marja-Liisa and Miguel had a different recollection about this mode of travel across three countries (they used words like “awful”, “terrible”, and “horrible” in their recollections).

After returning to Monterrey, Mexico, Miguel worked at the public hospital, and also eventually started his own private practice. He had many patients who did not have the ability to pay for their care, so they sometimes gave Miguel and his family chickens and goats as payments. Miguel graciously accepted these animals, and then the family would have to give these animals away to other families because they could not keep them where they lived.

In 1974, the Lennhoff family immigrated to the United States, to live in San Antonio, TX. Miguel entered a program at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio to get his license as a physician in the United States, and to change his specialization to Psychiatry, rather than Nephrology. Even as a Nephrologist in Mexico, Miguel was fascinated by the chemistry of the body, and by the human mind, so Psychiatry was a natural fit for his interests.

Miguel worked as a Psychiatrist in San Antonio at the community-based MHMR and then at the Audie L. Murphy VA.

Miguel and Marja-Liisa created a home where many people from the neighborhood were welcome and came and spent much time with the Lennhoff family. Their children’s friends – including neighborhood kids who were considered “bad” or “trouble makers” – often found refuge and acceptance in the Lennhoff home, where they could enjoy conversations with Miguel and Marja-Liisa, and would be treated to Marja-Liisa’s baked goods.

Miguel was often called to assist with medical emergencies that happened in the mobile home park where the Lennhoff family lived, including helping to revive a boy who had drowned in the swimming pool, as well as helping various neighbors with more minor emergencies such as cuts and allergic reactions.

Miguel and Marja-Liisa had many interests in life, which they shared with their kids and friends, including a love of nature, fossil hunting, science projects, and pottery. The Lennhoff home has been filled with many clay sculptures and pottery that Miguel made. He was a very talented artist.

In 1985, Miguel and Marja-Liisa and their son Victor moved to Boerne, TX, and Miguel started working at the VA in Kerrville, TX. The family enjoyed nature outings all over the Hill Country area, including in Fredericksburg, Comfort, and in various state parks, including Enchanted Rock. Miguel and Marja-Liisa enjoyed local outings like going to River Road Park in Boerne and feeding the ducks and geese.

Miguel continued his artistic endeavors while living in Boerne, taking up jewelry-making and making his own glass and copper beads.

Miguel’s work as a Psychiatrist eventually took him to the Kerrville State Hospital after he left the VA. He ultimately retired from the State Hospital, which had become a forensic psychiatric hospital, and from medicine in the early 2000s.

This was his head shot for the State Hospital in Kerrville, TX 

While working at the Kerrville State Hospital, Miguel was given a column in the hospital newsletter called “Miguel’s Corner” where he wrote many columns about various subjects such as spirituality, mental health, and compassion.  While many of these were serious, they often had his humorous touch.

Miguel had a subtle sense of humor and he saw the absurdities in the administrative aspects of the health systems in which he worked, often drawing funny cartoons about bureaucracy and red tape.

He also famously once wrote a column titled “Why I spray painted my car blue.” He did really spray paint his car blue. It looked terrible, but he was delighted with the blue color and the fact that he didn’t have to pay for a fancy paint job or buy a new car just to get a different colored car. He was, in so many ways, unconventional – but in the most delightful way.

Like his wife, Marja-Liisa, Miguel was an avid and voracious reader for most of his life, with his interests ranging from medicine, history, natural history, science, religions of the world, philosophy, and more. Both Miguel and Marja-Liisa instilled a great love of reading in their children.

Miguel and Marja-Liisa made sure that their children had happy childhoods – they took their kids, and often, their friends, to movies, parks, lakes, and the beach. Favorite places in Texas included Canyon Lake, Padre Island, including Port Aransas, Guadalupe River State Park, Lost Maples, and Enchanted Rock, to name a few.

While living in both Mexico and later in Texas, the family often went hiking and camping, exploring, and fossil hunting. The kids grew up with lots of fossils, sea shells, and other wonders from nature surrounding them in their home.

Miguel had a love of music and his tastes were eclectic. He had a profound appreciation for Beethoven, and could be moved to tears when talking about Beethoven’s life and music. He also appreciated Flamenco music, and he deeply enjoyed Linda Ronstadt’s album, “Canciones de mi Padre”. Miguel enjoyed Harry Belafonte and often played his records when the kids were growing up. Youngest son Victor shared much of his music with Miguel, and Miguel came to appreciate artists as diverse as Metallica, the Eagles, and Bob Dylan.
 
Miguel was profoundly devoted to his family. Family was everything to him.
 
Miguel and Marja-Liisa also had many adored pets over the years: dogs, parakeets and parrots, and a goat while in Mexico, ducks, a goose, and a host of cats while in San Antonio and in Boerne, TX. All  of the cats were rescued and adopted.
 
When Miguel and Marja-Liisa purchased some land near Comfort, TX, Miguel surprised Marja-Liisa with donkeys. He told his kids that “Your mom has always wanted donkeys!” She had actually wanted llamas. But both Marja-Liisa and Miguel loved the donkeys and were very devoted to them, and going to visit the donkeys was a favorite family activity for many years.
 
Both Miguel and Marja-Liisa had a love for justice that was based on love and compassion for people. Their kids grew up watching the national and world news, hearing their parents’ commentary along the way. They always favored justice and love, and abhorred injustice in all of its forms.

Miguel was a true gentleman – courteous, kind, and truly gentle. He was compassionate and generous, intelligent and curious, and a person of great humility. He felt fortunate to be alive, and, like his beloved Marja-Liisa, he loved people, animals, nature, and science. He left this world, and the many lives he encountered, better for him having been here.
 
We at CCHCC strive to do the same every day, for each of our clients, and for our community.

My father and mother at the Gulf Coast in Texas. He’s wearing a CCHCC tshirt.

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As always, thank you for your support!

Sincerely,

Claudia Lennhoff
Executive Director
Champaign County Health Care Consumers