Becquer Benalcazar

Dr. Becquer Marcelo Benalcazar, MD, 82, died peacefully at home on Sunday, Mar. 15, 2026. He was surrounded by his family and the grandchildren that knew him as ‘Baba’.

He was born Jan. 16, 1942, in Alausi, Ecuador to Don Luis and Doña Blanca Benalcazar. His family later emigrated to Colombia when he was 4 years old. He graduated with his medical degree from La Universidad del Valle in 1968 and continued his residency in Chicago.

At his residency, he met and fell in love with a fellow physician, Regine Schmid. Upon their residencies ending, and with 2 months' notice, he went to Regine's native country of Switzerland to visit. During this trip they vacationed to Greece. While on a ferry boat in the Aegean Sea, they found a moment alone under the tarp of a lifeboat where he proposed to her with a bottle of wine; thus cementing his self-identity as ‘Zorba the Ecuadorian.’ They married in 1974 and moved to Topeka, Kansas to join the Menninger Foundation, both working as clinical psychiatrists, practicing decades until its departure in 2001. They continued their adventures by selling their Topeka home and most of their possessions, residing in France and Japan until finally settling in Lawrence, Kansas.

Becquer was affectionate, intellectually curious and he loved his people fervently and loyally. He is survived by the love of his life, his partner in crime, and wife of over 50 years, Regine; his children, Caterina and Marcelo; his brother, Jorge; and his sister, Patricia. Preceding him in death is his youngest brother, Cesar.

His hobbies were his work, cursing at conservative politicians on CNN, and traveling with Regine. Even after his diagnosis of multiple myeloma and a near fatal lung infection he continued treating patients for several years. He served as the Director of the Greater KC Psychoanalytic Institute and maintained his ties with many of his former Menninger colleagues.

Please raise a glass of Guinness and/or single malt Scotch whisky in celebration of the man we all love and miss so, so much, Becquer Benalcázar de Villacis.

To leave a message for Dr. Benalcazar's family, visit www.Rumsey-Yost.com.