József Lenk, known in the United States as Joseph Anthony Lenk, was a second-generation Hungarian-American Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Fort Wayne and later in the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend. He was born on September 22, 1912, in Fort Wayne, Indiana; his parents were János Lenk and Tekla Stock, and he had eight siblings. He completed his studies in Fort Wayne, then at St. Joseph’s College, St. Mary’s College in Kentucky, and Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary; and later continued his studies at the University of Notre Dame. He was ordained a priest on June 3, 1939. At the beginning of his priestly ministry, he served at St. Lawrence Parish in Muncie, and then, during World War II, he served as a Catholic chaplain in the U.S. Army during the campaigns in North Africa and Italy, retiring with the rank of major. After the war, he served as senior Catholic chaplain at the Hines Veterans’ Administration Hospital in Maywood, Illinois. For a brief time, he was assistant pastor at the Hungarian parish of Our Lady of Hungary in South Bend, where he helped establish the Purple Heart Memorial Tower. In 1948, he moved to Culver as pastor of St. Mary’s of the Lake Church, where he played a pivotal role in building up and strengthening the parish for three decades. He retired in 1978; he later lived at the Sacred Heart Home in Avilla. He passed away on July 11, 1993, in Avilla, and is buried at the Masonic Cemetery in Culver.