Our husband and father, best known by his nickname Laci, was born on June 17, 1948 in Budapest, Hungary. His mother came from an estate-holding agricultural family; his father was the eleventh child of a track watchman. His social background was reflected in his thinking that combined the attitudes of the Hungarian gentry as well as of the proletariat. After the war, the impoverished family lived in Miskolc, a city famous for its iron and steel production with a large Roma and Jewish population. Here, the industrial environment also had a great impact on him. Only one of his three siblings is still alive today. He was an outstanding and talented student with excellent grades. He won several national student contests, he learnt Polish, Finnish, Russian and later French as well. He also read and understood English but could not speak it.

He completed his studies at the Karl Marx University of Economics in Budapest at the department of international relations and he also got a doctorate in economics. He wrote several books on international economics and used his extensive knowledge and foreign language skills to translate many books into Hungarian.

He met his wife, Anna Dániel, at the university and they lived together for 45 years. The attitudes represented by her middle-class family were foreign to him, but he was always very attached to her. Their daughter Éva was born in 1980. He chose her middle name, Tessza. He was very proud of her and supported her with a lot of empathy, care and love. With his extensive knowledge, historical perspective and preparedness in the social sciences, he also supported her scientific work, especially through the sharing and interpretation of scholarly literature.

After graduating from university, he worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Planning Office and the Ministry of Culture. At the peak of his career he was the head of the authority overseeing all Hungarian book publishers in socialist Hungary. However, because he engaged in many political and ideological arguments with his superiors, he was later removed. Later, he was appointed to be the deputy director of the state-owned Kultúra Foreign Trade Company that engaged in the export of Hungarian cultural goods. He was still working there at the time of the regime change, which he ideologically opposed. The company was transformed into a small private firm, Hess AndrásTrade Company Ltd. and dealt with the export of Hungarian books. He led the firm with little financial success until he retired. With the formation of the Hungarian Socialist Party in 1989, he wanted to found a political party that represented real left values according to his beliefs. While he gave up organizing because of the lack of interest, he never gave up this idea.

In his active life, he traveled a lot abroad both in official and private capacities and was rightly proud of his knowledge of world cultures. He traveled to almost all European countries; his favorite destinations included the Soviet Union and Cuba. He also visited Asia and the American continent.

After retirement, he did not pursue professional work actively, but kept his interest in public affairs. He dedicated his creativity to cooking and caring for plants. He was very keen on cooking the dishes he learnt about during his travels for his family and for the homeless people he met through the advocacy work of his daughter. He regularly participated in the events organized by The City is for All and we was very enthusiastic about the actions of the group.

He died suddenly and unexpectedly on July 9, 2015 due to a stroke without any suffering, as he had wished.

We will always miss his concerned love, colorful personality and critical attitude.

Budapest, August, 2015.

Anna („Mama”) and Éva Tessza („Kisleány”)