Gregory Scott Farnik, age 56, of Frisco, TX left this world on October 31, 2019, after a two and a half year fight with pancreatic cancer. He is survived by his wife, Sarka, and his three sons, Josef 10, Michael 6, and Krystof 4, along with his sisters Becky (& Mike) Ripley and Beth (& Brian) Murphy, his nephews Ben & Brian Ripley, and his niece Madison Yates. He was preceded in death by his mother Ruth in 2008, his 24-day old daughter Lenka Elizabeth in 2011, and his father Dennis in 2013.
Greg was born in the charity ward of St. Joseph Hospital in Ft. Worth, TX on October 4, 1963. At age 2 he fell while running with a glass bottle and cut all of the major veins and arteries in his right wrist. While healing from this near fatal accident, he did everything left-handed and continued to do so the rest of his life. In spite of having little strength or functionality in his right hand, Greg became a skilled athlete excelling in football, baseball, and basketball. As the QB of his junior high football team in Arlington, he led them to 3 consecutive city championships. Unfortunately, his high school football career ended prematurely from an ACL tear to his left knee at the start of his senior year when he slated to be the starting QB. Greg graduated from Arlington Sam Houston High School as its valedictorian in 1982 and then attended UT-Arlington where he walked on to the baseball team and played four seasons. Greg became a starter for the Mavericks' baseball team in his junior and senior years, leading the team in doubles and RBIs respectively during those years. His injury curse struck again during the Fall of 1985 when he tore the ACL of his right knee playing intramural flag football. That forced Greg to wear a full leg brace during his senior baseball season and ended Greg's hopes of a professional baseball career.
Greg graduated with Honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 1989. That education was partially funded by a scholarship awarded to him by the Southland Conference as the conference athlete with the best GPA. His first legal job was with the Zelle & Larson law firm (now Zelle, LLP) in Dallas doing insurance litigation. After working his way up to the partner level, Greg left the firm in early 1998 and moved to Tahlequah, OK where he had a part-time legal practice, taught courses at the local college, and gave private baseball lessons. In an effort to give something back to the game he loved, in 2001 he accepted a job in Prague, Czech Republic coaching in the top mens baseball league in that country. During the next three years he coached at both baseball clubs in Prague, finishing no lower than third place each year and sweeping the opposing rival Prague team each year. Greg enjoyed the opportunity to help coach the Czech national baseball team as they prepared for the European Championship tournament in 2003. He also worked for the international law firm, White & Case, while in Prague during 2003-2005.
Greg very much enjoyed playing in the top amateur baseball leagues in Dallas beginning in the late 1980s and continuing until 2009. He participated in the MSBL World Series numerous times with teams from Dallas, Houston, and Tulsa. The highlight was his Dallas Pirates team winning the MSBL World Series in 1997. He also enjoyed playing softball in the 1990s, with his team winning numerous Dallas league titles and three state championships in the Young Lawyers Association league.
While in Prague in 2005, Greg met and married Sarka Sladkova Farnik. They moved back to Texas and Greg got a job as inside counsel for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service in Dallas. In 2008, Greg accepted a job as inside counsel for The Republic Group in Dallas supervising litigation arising from claims on homeowner and commercial property insurance policies. Over the next ten years, Greg supervised and resolved approximately two thousand lawsuits generated as a result of faulty laws and unethical activities by plaintiffs' lawyers. He never lost a trial in which he participated while with Republic. Greg was on the front lines of the fight to reform Texas laws that encouraged frivolous lawsuits against insurers, including providing testimony to the Business and Commerce Committee of the Texas Senate in 2016 about the gross disparity between the volume of lawsuits in Texas compared to the volume of lawsuits in other Southwestern states. Greg was proud of his role in helping to control insurance costs for Texas consumers through insurance reform legislation passed in 2017. Greg remained as counsel for AmTrust Financial Services, Inc., the successor to Republic, at the time of his death. Greg was very disappointed that his cancer prevented him from continuing to coach his boys' baseball teams and to be with them as they grew from boys into men.
Greg’s competitive spirit drove him throughout his life, to be the best at whatever he attempted. He was a private man who valued his family above all else. He was very proud of his wife and sons. He will be greatly missed (but never forgotten) by all those who knew and loved him.
Funeral Services will be held Sunday, November 10th at 2:00 pm at Moore Funeral Home in Arlington, reception following. A private family burial will be held the following week at Ridgeview West Memorial Park in Frisco, TX. Greg will be buried next to his infant daughter, Lenka Elizabeth.
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