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Famous Hungarians:
Some famous Hungarians that you might have heard of!
George Soros -
"The world's greatest money manager" and Great Progressive, Controversial Philanthropist.
One of the wealthiest men in America and keen investor, Mr. Soros founded the multi-million dollar "Soros Fund," and actively develops and supports philanthropic endeavors throughout the world, including Hungary and former Hungarian lands. He has also established educational institutions such as the Central European University. Soros achieved his lasting fame early on: Back in 1981 he was hailed as "the world's greatest money manager" by the bible of the trade, Institutional Investor, which wrote: "As Borg is to tennis, Jack Nicholas is to golf and Fred Astaire is to tap dancing, so is George Soros to money management."
Calvin Klein - (b. 11/19/1942, New York)
American Fashion King!
"Calvin's stooped, subdued, Hungarian-born father, Leo Klein, was less comfortable with his son's interest in women's clothing than his wife, but Leo didn't have much to say about it - or about anything else in the household...A grocer by trade, he had come to this country at age eleven with his older brother Ernest, and together the two had worked six and seven days a week building up a series of superettes." pg 15, OBSESSION, The Lives and Times of Calvin Klein, 1994. ISBN:0-380-72500-2 [Buy]
Calvin Klein graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1962 at the age of twenty and then worked five years for the Seventh Avenue manufacturer Dan Misstein. In 1968, longtime friends Calvin Klein and Barry Schwartz opened their first apparel company, designing and selling women´s coats - an anterprise that combined Klein's design talent and Schwartz´s business acumen. A chance meeting with a Bonwit Teiler buyer lead to a substantial order and Klein's achievements soon earned the recognition of the fashion world. By 1969 he had landed the cover of Vogue. In 1973 he won the first three consecutive Coty awards. By 1975 Calvin Klein had become a celebrity, and he changed his somewhat homespun earlier image (a 1973 advertisement quoted him as saying about his new collection, "I made a lot of things that go with things.") for a more glamorous one. Actress Brooke Shields created a stir with her 1980 ads for Calvin Klein jeans, which carried the tagline "Nothing comes between me and my Calvins."
Nicolas Sarkozy (b. 1/28/1955, Paris, France)
French Minister of the Interior, Internal Security and Local Freedoms. Potential Candidate for French Prime Minister!
Sarkozy often mentions his heritage. His father is Pal Nagy y Sarkozy, an aristocrat who fled Hungary in 1944 and acquired French citizenship. Pal always considered himself Hungarian and, as a result, Nicolas speaks the mother tongue fluently. Everyone in France is sure that Sarkozy will one day become president. A graduate in public law and political science, Nicolas Sarkozy is a barrister by profession. In 1987, he was responsible at the Ministry of the Interior for action to combat chemical and radiological risks. He has become a very popular figure nicknamed "Sarko." Since coming to office, Mr Sarkozy has put more policemen on the streets than ever before, cracked down on drugs, crime and terrorism, and two thirds of the voters say they think he is great. This former Chirac Protege may soon vie for France's highest office.
Nicolas Sarkozy entered politics in 1977, at the age of 21, when he was elected mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine as a member of the RPR's Central Committee. He was National delegate for young RPR party members from 1978 to 1979, and then became chairman of the national committee for young people supporting Jacques Chirac in the 1981 presidential election. He became a member of the Ile-de-France Regional Council from 1983 to 1988, and then member of the executive bureau and Vice-Chairman of the Hauts-de-Seine General Council (1985-1988). He was elected National Assembly Deputy for Hauts-de-Seine for the first time in 1988, re-elected in 1993, 1995 and again in 1997 when he became a member of the National Assembly finance committee. Sarkozy sat as an MEP (Union for Europe) from July to September 1999. He gave up his seat as an MEP to Brice Portefeux, Chairman of the Rassemblement pour la République's (RPR) Hauts-de-Seine Department Committee. Sarkozy became Minister for the Budget in 1993 and was Government Spokesman from March 1993 until July 1994. He was also acting Minister of Communication in the Balladur Government from January to April 1995. He has been a member of the RPR's political bureau since 1995, and is its Spokesman. As Secretary-General from 1998-1999, he was also its acting chairman. He is married with two children.
Estée Lauder - (b. 1908, Corona, Queens, NY)
Cosmetic Queen! Founder of the current world cosmetics leader!
The Estee Lauder Companies Inc., employs some 10,000 people around the globe and today controls 45 per cent of the cosmetics market in US department stores and is sold in over 100 markets under well recognized brand names: Estee Lauder, Aramis, Clinique, Prescriptives, Origins, M.A.C., Bobbi Brown essentials, Tommy Hilfiger, Jane, Donna Karan Cosmetics, Aveda, Stila, Jo Malone and Kate Spade! www.esteelauder.com
"Measure your success in dollars, not degrees"
Estée Lauder's name connotes beauty and healthy skin through her profitable cosmetics lines: Estée Lauder, Clinique, Aramis, Lauder for Men, and Prescriptives. An astute businesswoman, she made a fortune manufacturing, marketing, and distributing cosmetics to women around the world. Estée Lauder was born Josephine Esther Mentzer in Queens, New York, to Max and Rose (Schotz Rosenthal) Mentzer, a Hungarian immigrant with a French Catholic mother and Jewish father. She grew up in the Corona section of Queens, New Jersey. Estée was about nineteen when she met Joseph Lauter, son of Lillian and William Lauter, immigrants from Galicia. They married on January 15, 1930, and their son Leonard Allen was born on March 19, 1933 and Ronald in February 1944. In about 1937, Estée Lauder began to use the Lauder spelling of her name for her products. After 20 years of slow hard work in the cosmetics industry, starting by selling a face cream made by her Hungarian uncle, she brought out her Youth Dew scented bath oil, which was an enormous success in the 1950s and 1960s. Innovative, with a talent for adapting, marketing and promotion, she built up an estimated $1 billion a year business.
Jerry Seinfeld (b. 4/29/1954, Brooklyn, NY)
Actor / Comedian: American Icon! The most successful and influential comedian of his generation!
Critically acclaimed and successful as a stand-up comic, television actor, best-selling author and advertising pitchman, Jerry was born to Hungarian Kalman Seinfeld, a signmaker, and his wife, Betty. Jerry was the second of the couple's two children. The Seinfeld family moved to Long Island when Jerry was a child, and he spent most of his youth there. After graduating from high school, Seinfeld went on to college, first attending the State University of New York at Oswego, and then moving on to Queens College of the City University of New York, where he received a Bachelor's Degree in 1976. Seinfeld developed a keen interest in performing while in college (his degree from Queens was in communications and theater), and after graduation he began working New York comedy clubs, often without pay, while holding down a number of odd jobs.
Seinfeld's first big break came when his bright but understated observational humor caught the eye of standup legend Rodney Dangerfield, who featured Seinfeld on a special for HBO. The exposure helped establish Seinfeld on the comedy club circuit, and won him a recurring role on the situation comedy Benson. In 1981, Seinfeld appeared for the first time on The Tonight Show, then hosted by Johnny Carson, and made a strong impression on both the audience and the host; he became a frequent guest on the Carson show, as well as David Letterman's late-night talk show. As Seinfeld's fame began to rise, he starred in several cable TV specials, and was approached to star in several TV series. Seinfeld and his good friend Larry David began working up an idea for a situation comedy to be called The Seinfeld Chronicles. In 1989, NBC took the bait, and a year later the show premiered under the streamlined name Seinfeld. Concerning standup comic Jerry Seinfeld and the often odd everyday occurrences of his circle of friends (many of whom were based on people Seinfeld and David knew in real life), Seinfeld got off to a slow start, but began to win a healthy audience in its second season, and in time became one of NBC's biggest hits.
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