Horanyi, the son of a railroad station master who worked on the rail line between Budapest, Hungary and Romania, was orphaned in 1943 at the age of 15, he said. His grandfather, who retired from the railroad, became his legal guardian while he went to boarding school and studied at a gymnasium high school (similar to a prep school). After graduating, Horanyi became the third generation to work for the Hungarian railroad, but in the role of a commodity dealer shipping cargo worldwide.
In 1949, Horanyi was sent to a concentration camp for 10 months on the eve of his wedding to Ava Dome.
“It was a complete dictatorship and they called me an enemy of the state,” said Horanyi, who found a job and married Ava after being released from the camp. “I was an auditor and I wasn’t charging enough from the farmers with 10 acres. It was a small village, and I treated them all the same.”
In 1956 when the Hungarian Uprising occurred, he fled to Croatia with Ava and their two small children, Ava, 4, and Katy, 10 months, he said.
He connected with a U.S. delegation in Belgrade. As a political refugee, he traveled to Dayton where he was sponsored by the Catholic Church.
Horanyi, lived in West Dayton where he found employment at the General Motors Inland Division starting on the assembly line and working up to a position in a laboratory. Meanwhile, his family grew to include John, Jr. and Aniko. Although Ava passed away four years ago, the grandfather of two and great-grandfather of one, prefers to leave his car in the garage and use his bike to travel. He used to bike to work and also remains an active member of the Dayton Cycling Club.
“He is really an inspiration at LA Fitness,” said Martha Wright, of Miami Twp. “He’s doing more on the exercise machines than young people do. He arrives on his bike, rain, or shine to swim and use the equipment.”
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