Magyar News, 2004. szeptember-2005. augusztus (15. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2005-02-01 / 6. szám
AN AMERICAN HUNGARIAN, Professor August Molnár RECEIVES AWARD FROM HUNGARY Many years ago at the University of Bridgeport we had an international scholarship program. Most of the area ethnic groups participated in it. One year, within the program, we wanted to honor a person from each group based on their devoted service to the community. We Hungarians chose Prof. August Molnár from New Brunswick. Our choice was the best. Now he received an award, the Order of Merit by the President of Hungary. Now Professor August J. Molnár is president and executive officer of the American Hungarian Foundation, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2005. Asking him about his background he tells us : “My father came to the USA in 1910 from Ozd. He was bom in Kissikátora village near Ozd.He and his brother were building contractors there and he was the only member of the family who came. Here he continued in the building field and built numerous churches and large buildings in the Cleveland, OH area. In 1918 he built the Hungarian Baptist Church in Cleveland and much later in 1932 the Bethlen Hall and School building for the First Hungarian Reformed Church. In 1949 he built the land mark church building, the Nagy Templom, which was added to the Bethlen Hall. My mother came in 1924 and they met here. She was bom in Perény, which was Felvidék then.” About himself: “ I was bom in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1927.1 graduated at Charles F. Brush High School, Lyndhurst, OH, and received higher education at Elmhurst College (Illinois), University of Michigan, Lancaster Theological Seminary, Columbia University, and studied at other American universities. In 2004 Elmhurst College honored him with the Doctor of Humane Letters degree, and received an Award of Hungary.” The President of Hungary, Ferenc Madl, issued an Award to Professor August Molnár, President of the American Hungarian Foundation in recognition of his decades long endeavors in preserving the cultural identity of ■Hungarians in the United States and promoting Hungarian- American cooperation in the field of sciences. The Award is The Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, Commander's Cross. Issued in Budapest on this 17th day of September of the year of 2004. Prof. Molnár’s Academic career is a Prof. August J. Molnár. Insert: The Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, Commander's Cross. long one. At Elmhurst College from 1952- 1959, he was chairman of the department of Hungarian studies and also was assistant professor of history. At Columbia The American Hungarian Foundation University he was a Cholnoky Fellow, and in Europe in 1957 he was a staff member of the Columbia University Project on Hungary. From 1959-1966 he established the Hungarian studies program at Rutgers- The State University of New Jersey, where he was a member of the faculty. Currently, In the Foundation s Library, during the festival, a meeting goes on with Dr Géza Jeszenszky, Ambassador of Hungary to the United States In the courtyard of the Foundation children perform Hungarian dances. To the right: Prof. Molnár says welcome to the people Page 4
