Laszlo Fono

1929 - 2023

Laszlo Fono
01/05/1929 - 09/23/2023
Laszlo Fono, a champion skier born in Budapest, courageously escaped the oppression of Communist Hungary during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution with his wife, Paulette, immigrating to America for freedom in 1957. They spent 8 years in Denver, Colorado. True to form, in 1958, the unstoppable Laszlo won the US National Cross Country Skiing Championship in 30km.
In 1965, the couple moved to San Francisco, where Laszlo was best known as co-founder of The Magic Pan restaurant, introducing French crêpes to America, expanding to over 48 Magic Pans nationwide.
As visionary restauranteurs, together with his business partner, Paulette, they spent fifty years creating multiple successful trend-setting European eating establishments known for their menu and design concepts. In 1974, the Fonos opened Paprika's Fono in Ghirardelli Square as a celebration and tribute to their Hungarian heritage.
Culminating in unique eateries at Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, CA: the Italian café and gelateria Bravo Fono (1979), Café Andrea (1987), Madam Paulette's (1987), and Babbo's (1989) Mediterranean style restaurant.
The truly impeccable service and consistently delicious dishes created a gastronomic experience that loyal customers returned to for decades. The family invites you to join us at www.TheFonos.com to share memories of Laszlo and your unforgettable meals with the Fonos.
Visitors to the restaurants will remember Laszlo's Hungarian accent as he recounted never-ending ski stories of his youth. Since the Soviet Union's domination of Hungary in 1948, Laszlo felt the direct impact of the stripping of his family's business estate and fortune. He channeled his grief into competitive sailing and cross-country skiing. This earned Laszlo the opportunity to travel to international race competitions, a rare privilege during the Stalinist years. His pride in being a member of the Hungarian Olympic Ski Team was always alongside a bitter disappointment at Stalin's last-minute denials (for fear of defections) of the team's right to travel to the winter Olympics in 1952 and 1956.
But the friendships lasted … Throughout life, he'd regularly meetup with his ski team buddies, also emigrees, at Heavenly Valley to enjoy Hungarian sausage sandwiches on the lifts while reminiscing and joking about the 'old country'. His biggest boast was always that not once in all his years of skiing did he ever fall!
Annual trips with Paulette for spring skiing to Lech, in the Austrian Alps continued until Laszlo was 86! And for many more years, they savored life together on delightful gourmet travels throughout France and Italy.
The ever-sociable and dapper Fono was out walking and greeting neighbors until the end.
Laszlo died at 94, peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by family at home in Atherton.
Laszlo is survived by his wife of 70 years, Paulette Fono, his daughter, Andrea Fono, and son-in-law, Frank Rocky. Cremated at his request, his ashes will be placed in the family's private crypt at his St. Anna Templom, a magnificent baroque church located on the banks of the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary, where he was baptized and married to his dear, Paulette.
With the loss of my father last year, I didn't anticipate the impact that tectonic shift would have in our lives and regret it's taken so long to bring this public remembrance forward … It certainly has been a journey of grief, remembrance, gratitude and love. - AF