GABOR FOLDVARY 1931-2014

Wide interests: Palaeontologist Gabor Foldvary loved Mozart and Wagner, and in recent years was interested in Buddhism. Photo: Rick Monk

Gabor Foldvary loved nature, knowledge, writing, the ocean, history, geology, Mozart, classical music, Wagnerian operas, books, literature, philosophy, World War II history, Buddhism, the arts, culture, Hungarian culture and many other things.

He was also, professionally, a palaeontologist, and a keen collector and curator of fossils. His book, Geology of the Carpathian Region (1988) paved the way for geologists to understand this vast and tectonically complex area.

Gabor Zoltan Foldvary was born in Budapest, Hungary on February 7, 1931, to Dr Laszlo Foldvary, a forestry engineer, and his wife, Katalin (nee Papp). In December 1944, as the Soviet Russian armies encircled Budapest, the family fled in the dead of night for the town of Sopron.

In March 1945, the family joined a convoy going west. The Foldvarys survived to reach Bavaria, where they lived in a hunter's cottage. Gabor was almost able to complete high school in a Hungarian high school in the Passau refugee camp. He also visited the famous fossil fields nearby and one of his collections from this time is now in the Australian Museum.

Advertisement

In 1950 the Foldvarys were given the opportunity to emigrate. They had to get to a reception camp near Munich, then travelled non-stop on a special "sealed" train into Italy, then took another special train to Naples and a ship to Newcastle and the Greta migrant camp.

Then the family moved to Sydney. Gabor worked in a tannery and completed his Leaving Certificate at night. He also learned ballroom dancing and joined the Sydney Mozart Society and the Youth Hostel Association. In 1955 he went to a camp in the Grose River Valley and was standing near Beryl Searle when she passed him a tea towel. They were married soon afterwards. Gabor said he chose Beryl because she was admirable, lovable and of a strong character. Beryl said she chose Gabor because he wasn't an ordinary man.

In the late 1950s, Foldvary started work as a laboratory attendant at the University of NSW, where he looked after the fossil collection, prepared thin sections of rocks for microscopy and did photomicrography. He also completed a Bachelor of Science degree part-time, graduating in 1966 with a geology major and biology second major, but he had also studied English, history, psychology and philosophy.

Continue reading here:
Obituary: Palaeontologist Gabor Foldvary loved Mozart and followed Buddhism