Lajos Pagony

Asheville - Lajos Pagony, an extraordinary well known piano talent and longtime player of the grand keyboards at the Grove Park Inn for 32 years, died quietly on June 1, 2014. Pronounced "Lahyosh Pahgoney".
He was born December 3, 1924, in Budapest, Hungary. He displayed unusual musical abilities at 3 years of age. He tickled out his own little melodies to the delight of his parents and their guests. Ernie Plan, a world wide known Hungarian violin artist, was astonished when he heard him play. Lajos became passionate about playing the piano from that point forward. He was a child prodigy. He was playing by ear by 5 and composed his first songs at 8.
At 8 years old, he discovered a fascination for writing and languages. He filled his writing books with stories of fantasized utopias. At 12, he spoke perfect German, French, and, of course, his native Hungarian. At 18, he had published short stories in the greater domestic Hungarian periodicals. Later he learned English, Polish, and Finnish.
During his teens he adopted another life long passion, the royal game of Chess. He wrote an article for the magazine Hungarian Chess World under the title: "Chess and Mental Therapy" emphasizing the game as a way for the mentally confused to learn how to think in an orderly manner. He reached the level of master in Hungary and was, over the course of 32 years, one of the strongest players in North Carolina, achieving a national rating that only 8% of all serious tournament players reach. He could, blindfolded, play numerous players simultaneously. He continued to play chess here at the Asheville Chess Club and also on the internet. Even in the nursing home in his final illness he played chess until May 8, 2014, and he won that game with a rook down!
This multi-talented man grew up in eastern Europe in the contradictory decades of economic distress, political turbulence and violence, both internal and external. First the Great Depression, then the Nazis and then the Communists. But after the Hungarian Revolution in1956, the political climate began to loosen and in 1961, he was permitted by the government to work abroad as a musician and band leader. In exchange, he had to pay the Hungarian government 10% of his revenue.
He continued to enjoy success as a free lance writer for numerous regional periodicals, and later became the culture section's editor of the south Hungarian evening paper in Pecs. His poems were published in the leading Hungarian literature magazine "Csillag". In another very exclusive literature magazine "Jelenkor", his essay appeared on music generally and about jazz especially.
From April 1961 to 1979, he lived and performed in Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Germany, and Bermuda. He gave live concerts, was on the radio and television. Also during this period of time he was a musician on luxury cruise ships. In 1973 and 1974 the Holland America Lines engaged him on the ss Rotterdam and ss Veendant cruise ships for 80 day around the world cruises on each as the piano and organ artist and chess master to entertain the guests. In early 1973 the Rotterdam went to Trinidad, Rio de Janeiro and South Africa. From there the journey reached Capetown and then Kenya with a true Safari, then on to Bombay, Ceylon, Cochin, Madras, Singapore, Bangkok, the Mekong, Hong Kong, Kobe, Nagasaki, Yokohama, Tokyo, Kioto, Kamakura. The last part of the trip: Hawaii, Acapulco, the Panama Canal, Fort Lauderdale and back to New York.
In late 1973 the Veendam docked in Pusan, South Korea, went to Japan and then South America passing through the Panama Canal, reaching Columbian and Panamian ports, and sailing along the giant turtles' paradise of the Galapagos Islands and then she headed to Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. Lajos then flew to Europe and performed in Amsterdam in the Hilton hotels, then 4 months in Germany at the RE VITA hotel. It was on the Veendant cruise that he met and married Dorothy Bopp on December 2, 1973, in Rio de Janeiro. She now became his traveling companion and loving wife for over 31 years.
In 1974 the Hungarian government ordered him to return home. He refused. Instead, he returned to the USA and briefly continued his contracts with the Holland America Lines. In 1976 he performed in Bermuda for 3 months on the Dutch ship Statendam and then with the "Princess Hotels" for two and half years. He was then offered the musical management of the ms. Prinsendam cruise ship on her Indonesian itinerary between December of 1977 and May 1978. This cruise took him to Singapore, Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Penang, Belovan, Nya, Sibolgg Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya, the second biggest city of Indonesia, with its bizarre bull races on the neighborly Madura island. From there the ship left Indonesia and headed to Manila; Hong Kong, Shanghai, Yokohama and then to Alaska visiting Juneau, Katchikan, and ending the journey in Vancouver.
Lajos then flew back to Bermuda, resuming his appearances at the Hamilton Princess Hotel. Herman von Treskow, the manager of the hotel, left Bermuda and took over the management of the historic and spectacular Grove Park Inn Resort Hotel. He asked Lajos to follow him. Why would Lajos give up his lucrative international career and his "wanderlust" for Asheville? He became deeply attracted to an extraordinarily imaginative, open hearted couple: the owners of the Grove Park Inn Resorts, Charles.and Elaine Sammons, from Dallas, Texas. He met these wealthy, but incredibly modest, generous and outgoing people in Bermuda when they were hiring Herman Von Treskow as their new manager. His long and enduring association with them and fondness for them were some of the finest memories for Lajos.
So it happened. The man who all his life pursued the passion of his piano in all parts of the world, at age 55, finally settled down in Asheville in April 1979 with his wife Dorothy. He finally bought a real home and remodeled it. He became the Entertainment Director for the Grove Park Inn. For 32 years he played his piano for the patrons of this grand hotel and planned musical events for other performers, particularly jazz. Thus, he embarked on his last achievements in Asheville and he became, in his own words, "one of the oldest pieces of furniture" in the hotel. He continued to take short international and national trips to perform, but his primary focus for the remainder of his long career was the Grove Park Inn. Under the Sammons ownership from 1955 to 2009, the historic hotel became a world class resort. Part of that vision was to have a world class piano player and imaginative Entertainment Director. When Charles Sammons died in 1988 Lajos mourned his passing, but after his own wife Dorothy died in 2005, and then finally Elaine Sammons in 2009, life in general and at the Grove Park Inn was not the same for Lajos Pagony. The hotel was sold in 2012 and with the change in management, that was the last performance for Lajos Pagony after 32 very wonderful years.
One of his pet projects during the Sammons era was the concept that winter time could be a good time for the hotel, which for years, like other hotels in Asheville, were tombs as not many tourists visit Asheville in the winter. In 1987, he came up with the idea that a first class chess tournament could be held in the winter at the Grove Park Inn and it would draw world class as well as lesser, but also talented, tournament chess players from all over the country and, indeed the world. His concept was to get special interest groups to come when the usual tourists are not traveling. He was right. He asked Wilder Wadford, then President of the Asheville Chess Club, to organize the event. The "Land of the Sky" chess tournament, occurring in January 1988, was a big success and for 27 years the tournament has been beneficial for Asheville hotels in the winter. It is a major nationally recognized Heritage Event by the United States Chess Federation. It has attracted some of the best chess players in the world to Asheville. This was the beginning of revitalizing the winter for Asheville hotels with special events focused on a particular target group. Lajos was the first to experiment and succeed.
His musical repertoire covered a wide spectrum: classical; operettas; musicals; jazz; standards like Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Count Basie; traditional and modern Latin American; pop and medleys in French, Italian, German, Russian, Hungarian, Norwegian and Finnish; American country and western; Bacharach to the Beatles; Hungarian, Russian and Romanian folk; Viennese music; and holiday music for all occasions. All you had to do was ask, and 99 times out of 100 he knew the song and would play it without any sheet music.
Lajos Pagony: a life at the piano, his journeys, dreams and music. A unique and interesting man has departed. What bright talents he possessed now seem dimly far away and what is gone has become a reality.
Lajos Pagony is survived by four children who live in Hungary. He is also survived by his step children: Richard Bopp of Fairfax, VA; Diane Howell of Oswego, OR; and Roxanne Dinkines of Alexander, NC.
Condolences, anecdotes or other comments may be directed to pagony.memorium@gmail.com
A private graveside service is planned.