István Zolcsák

Enco-Zolcsák was the Brazilian licensee of the American company I had worked for in the seventies. Enco was a major mechanical contractor for automobile factories throughout Brazil. I was assigned to Enco for three months in 1974 to assist with the Volkswagen engine project at São Bernardo do Campo.
István Zolcsák founded his enterprise ten years earlier. A Hungarian dissident of the Russian takeover and a big player in the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, his political prominence caused his imprisonment. Supporters were able to free him from jail and smuggle him off to Brazil in 1957. Since most of his revenue and effort had been to free family and friends for a safe haven in Brazil. He founded the Transylvanian World Federation in Brazil.
Steve was a magnanimous figure with charm, generosity, and power. He was also surrounded by people beholding to him for his benevolence. The family was first. Key to his organization was nephew Walter, second in command. Most sacred were his two children. Georgina, his loving daughter of fifteen, was charming and poised, with whom I enjoyed many conversations for her desire to know about life in the USA. His son, Pedro was a very young thirteen years of age but perched on a pedestal and poised by his father. I opted to remain in Brazil over the Christmas holidays and partook in festivities at Enco and Steve’s home. With our close association, Steve invited me to emigrate to Brazil and work directly for him. My growing love for his chief financial officer, Rosinha, gave merit to such an idea. I returned in 1976 to manage electrical engineering and conveyor installations. I received word that my young brother had terminal cancer so I cut short my commitment and returned to the USA in July of 1977.
I always felt the greatness of my Brazilian adventure was absolute. My fondness for that life and those people was conclusive.