Tibor Weinberger

11/27/1932 - 8/28/25

Tibor Weinberger of Santa Monica, California passed away on Thursday August 28, 2025. He was born into a Jewish family on November 27, 1932 in Budapest, Hungary to Marton, a cantor of his small neighborhood synagogue, and Erszébet (née Teitelbaum) Weinberger. He was predeceased by his parents and his older sisters Hedvig (Hedi) Weinberger and Edit (Medi) Weinberger and older brother Meir (Mayerli) Weinberger.
Tibor's immediate family survived the Holocaust. His father was impressed into forced service for the Hungarian army on the eastern front, though he died shortly after the war having contracted tuberculosis. His older siblings remained in Budapest during the German occupation in 1944. Tibor and his younger brother Robert (Robi) went into hiding in the Hungarian countryside with non-Jewish family acquaintances - two sisters, living in separate villages - who passed the boys off as displaced relatives, and then for the remainder of the war in various locations throughout Budapest.
After the war Tibor had a brief stay in Szeged in southern Hungary as a refugee. There he walked alone into the city's Great Synagogue where he interrupted the cantor's services and asked to have his bar mitzvah in front of its teary-eyed congregants. He then returned to Budapest to complete his secondary and university education, ultimately becoming a mechanical engineer. During this time, Tibor became an avid and accomplished chess player.
After escaping Hungary during the 1956 revolution while on compulsory military duty, he was granted asylum in the United States and ultimately moved to California where he lived for the remainder of his life. Tibor continued in his profession as a mechanical engineer until retiring to manage some income properties.
However, his true passion was chess. He was an internationally recognized master, his rating topping out around 2,375 in the 1970s. His ultimate accomplishment was competing for the United States championship in 1968 alongside a select group of the best players in the country. Tibor was appreciated for his intuitive style in competition. At his peak, he defeated several grandmasters, won multiple California state titles, and regularly won tournaments throughout the country. He became a fixture at his hometown Santa Monica Bay Chess Club and wrote an article about its history in 2020.
Tibor leaves behind his wife of 37 years, Katalin Weinberger, of Santa Monica, California, five children and eight loving grandchildren, his younger brother Robi (who currently lives in Nice, France), nieces, nephews, cousins and other loved ones living around the world.
Family contact: michael.weinberger@gmail.com