This morning's NYT carries an obit for Zoltan Ovary, 98, an immunologist at NYU. The obit does not mention any significant others for Zoltan (obMotss), but I used to see him fairly often here in Madison when his boyfriend Bill was my roommate. He was not big in stature, maybe 5'4" (162 cm), but always an amazingly vivacious bundle of energy, alert, excited and full of fun.
I last saw him in New York about 24 years ago at a party following the Carnegie Recital Hall debut of a harpsichordist friend, Andrew Appel. He spoke very fractured English, with a heavy Hungarian accent: "Off ze seex lankwiches I am speakink, Eenglish iss da besst."
I love this Zoltan story about his accent (imagine typical Bela Lugosi here):
Phone rings, I answer.
JA: "Hello."
ZO: "Allo, iss Beel dare?"
JA: "I'm sorry, Bill's not at home, Zoltan."
ZO: "How did you know eet iss Zoltan?"
