Frank Lakatos

Frank Lakatos, age 77, 426 East Street, Bloomsburg, died at 8:30 p.m. Sunday, May 12, 2013 at the Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, where he was a patient for 25 days. He had been in failing health for several years.

Frank was born in Sonkád, Hungary on March 11, 1936. After losing his parents as a young boy, Frank went to live with his maternal grandparents, who raised him and introduced him to music. His grandfather played the violin, and Frank spent his childhood practicing the instrument in secret while his grandparents were away. When one day they discovered him playing, they enrolled him in private lessons in the village and began his musical education. As an adult, he trained as a classical violinist and teacher, and for the rest of his life made a living as a musician.

Frank first married in his early twenties, and during those eighteen years, he fathered two daughters. Years later, he met and courted Agnes while the two of them were teaching at a music school in Nyirbátor. They married and had their first four children together in Hungary, all the while employed in teaching and performing. Frank and Agnes moved about the country with their children, always working at the same schools and performing together. In those years, Hungary had fallen on hard times, and Frank was one of few men to voice his opposition to communism. In one of the turning points of his life, he refused to open a concert with communist anthems, and was consequently fired from his job and barred from teaching forever. The family remained in Hungary for just a few years after.

Together with his family, Frank escaped to refuge in Austria in 1987, where he hoped for better opportunities. While there, Agnes gave birth to their fifth and final child, and when the opportunity arose, the family emigrated to the United States. Many readers will remember their arrival to the Bloomsburg area in 1989. Frank played in the Bloomsburg University Community Orchestra and taught violin in the University’s preparatory music program, and eventually he and Agnes opened their very own school, The Lakatos School of Music. Frank spent the remainder of his life teaching and performing with his family, corresponding with his friends and relatives and Hungary, and networking with other American Hungarians in the Northeast.

Surviving are his wife, the former Agnes Bartha, with whom he celebrated his 35th wedding anniversary on April 26, 2013; seven children: Gyöngyi Andrásné Szekeres and Anna Lakatos Órbáziné, husband Sándor, both of Hungary; Agnes, wife of Paul Umaña, Montclare; Csilla Lakatos, boyfriend Kelly, Newark, Del.; Frank Lakatos, Jr., Harrisburg; Lívia Lakatos, wife of Toby Schwartzman, Raritan, N.J.; Beáta Lakatos de Rizo, husband Dr. Juan FelipeRizo Macias, Guadalajara, Mexico; and twelve grandchildren.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday at 11 a.m. in St. Columba Catholic Church, 342 Iron Street, Bloomsburg, by his pastor, Monsignor Robert E. Lawrence. Interment in New Rosemont Cemetery, Espy. There will be no viewing.