![[George Berzsenyi]](obitberzsenyi1.jpg)
George Berzsenyi receiving his WFNMC Erdös Award by President Ron Dunkley At ICME-7, Seville, 1996
George Berzsenyi
Born 17 August 1938
Budapest, Hungary
Died 04 June 2026
Jacksonville FL USA
George Berzsenyi passed away on 04 June 2026.
George was raised in Budapest but after the Soviet invasion of 1956 he emigrated to USA. He completed a science degree majoring in mathematics in 1965 at the University of Dallas. He then completed a MS at Texas Christian University (TCU), at Fort Worth in 1966 and his PHD, also at TCU in 1968. He met his future wife Kay while both were studying mathematics in Dallas.
George taught 2 years at Northeast Louisiana State University in Monroe, LA before moving back to Texas, to teach at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas for 19 years. The final 10 years of his career he spent at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana.
With his Hungarian background George was always going to be associated with competitions and helping school students and quickly became associated with organising competitions in the US and all those under the auspices of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).
I first met George in 1982 in Canberra, when Peter O’Halloran invited him to be a guest member of the Australian Mathematics Competition Problems Committee, which I chaired at the time. This was for setting the 1983 paper. He then came to Adelaide in 1984 at ICME-5. He was one of 20 mathematicians who at that conference founded WFNMC at a meeting. I next met George at many more ICMEs and WFNMC conferences and often had him in Australia, where he would be invited to be a member of the Problems Committee of the Australian Mathematics Competition, notably 1983, 1988, 1993, 1994 and 2003, and he attended WFNMC-4 conference in Melbourne in 2002.
George had been heavily involved with the MAA Competitions in the US and in 1983 he was appointed to be the initial chair of the intermediate competition AIME (American Intermediate Mathematics Examination) which was introduced to provide a link between the school based competition and USAMO training. I and a colleague Josephine Edwards, and her husband, all travelled to Denver to attend the initial problems committee which was chaired by George.
He was involved in so many other activities that it is difficult to do justice, but he was awarded an Erdos award in Seville in 1996 as the photo above demonstrates.
When George retired from Rose Hulman he and Kay lived in Wisconsin where he continued mathematical work and more recently he and Kay moved to Jacksonville FL to be closer to family.
Kay has provided me with his own eulogy in anticipation of his coming death and as can be seen as a very close family man, with Kay, 4 children, 12 grandchildren and at the time of passing 4 great grandchildren. George’s eulogy of himself is below my signature.
George will be very sadly missed.
Peter Taylor
Canberra
15 June 2026
George Berzsenyi was a good man, a good husband and a good father. He was also a good citizen and a good son of his native land, Hungary. He was born in Budapest on the 17th of August, 1938, to Miklós Vargha, an artillery officer and Kornélia Berzsenyi, a landowner and a great-granddaughter of the famous poet, Berzsenyi Dániel. It was the love of his poetry that prompted George to change his name from Vargha György Sándor to George Berzsenyi officially in 1961.
As a high school senior, George took an active part in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 against communism and the Russians. Hence, he was forced to leave Hungary, when the Mighty Soviet Union crushed the revolution and re-established communism in Hungary. George escaped the cruelty of the new regime by fleeing to Austria and immigrating to the United States. Fortunately, his father accompanied him, and after overcoming many challenges, helped him to get his degree.
He met Kay Markey while they were both working toward their mathematical diplomas at the University of Dallas. They married on the 16th of January 1965, shortly before graduating, and they settled in Ft. Worth, Texas, where both received a teaching fellowship in mathematics at Texas Christian University. Their studies were interrupted by the birth of their son, Adam, in 1966, which necessitated George accepting a teaching position at Northeast State University in Monroe, Louisiana. During the two years there, Kay finished her MA degree while George got his PhD in absentia. They also welcomed their daughter, Lydia into the family before returning to Texas, where George got a job as an assistant professor at Lamar Institute of Technology in Beaumont. There they welcomed two more sons, Eric and Daniel, and Kay stayed home for 10 more years to raise the children.
After some research in Complex Analysis, George got involved in mathematical competitions for high school students. In addition to full-time teaching, George spent his mathematical career in mathematical talent development, following the exemplary Hungarian tradition. He retired as Professor Emeritus from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, IN, including six years chairing the department. His work with high school students was recognized by an Erdős prize as well as the Gung and Hu lifetime achievement award for Mathematics. At the end of his career, he donated his extensive library to institutions in Hungary.
Although following retirement George’s interests shifted to genealogy, he still authored, co-authored or edited 5 books in Mathematics and several articles. After extensive correspondence, his genealogical research resulted in 3 volumes in English and A Berzsenyi Krónika and some articles in Hungarian. George also organized several family reunions in Hungary.
In passing, George is mourned by his wife, 4 children, 12 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren, as well as hundreds of relatives
Funeral Notice
Dr. George Berzsenyi passed away on June 4, 2026, at home, surrounded by family; he is survived by his wife of 61 years, Kay, his four children, Adam (Mikey), Lydia (Terry), Eric (Cindy) and Daniel (A’gi), twelve grandchildren, several step-grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. A funeral Mass will be said for George on Saturday, August 15, 2026 at 10:45 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Historic Church in Jacksonville, Florida; lunch will follow at a nearby restaurant. St. Joseph’s is located at 4152 Loretto Road.
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