Obituary of Michael Nogrady

Michael Nogrady passed peacefully at the age of 93, surrounded by family.   Predeceased by his loving wife, Irene, of 56 years; father to three daughters, Lilla and Kinga and Eliza Leahy and father-in-law to Michael Leahy; grandfather to Lauren Jackson, Michael and Nicole Stuart.

Michael was a Chartered Cartographer who worked in the private sector as a photogrammetrist in Calgary, then in Ottawa, where he joined the Public Service and retired as head of Quality Assurance from the Aeronautical Section of Energy, Mines and Resources.  He designed the prototype and wrote the production specifications for the Visual Navigation Chart used by the Canadian Aviation Industry.

Upon retirement, he became involved in the study of names, becoming a member for life of the Canadian Society for the Study of Names (formerly the Canadian Institute of Onomastic Sciences) and consequently the managing editor of Onomastica Canadiana from 1979 to 1988.  He is an honorary member of Ungarisch Historischer Verein Zürich.

He authored and published numerous scholarly papers on Magyar names, their relation to the Sumerian language and their role in interpretation of early Magyar history.  His comprehensive synthesis of The Names Testify would modify the Finno-Ugric theory and identify the Carpathian Basin where the Magyar language originated.  He researched and completed his final paper months prior to his death.  His papers can be found on academia.edu.

Michael was born in Szeged, Hungary and was a pilot instructor in his native country.  In 1954, he qualified for the Silver-C proficiency badge as a glider pilot. He was a medalist in the First Hungarian Air Race in 1955. During the 1956 anti-Soviet Uprising, he participated as a pilot.  He was arrested by the Russian KGB but escaped, leaving his homeland and building a life in Canada.  He became a proud Canadian in 1962.

In 2015, he wrote a self-published memoir, calling it Akarat, the Hungarian word that describes a person who never gives up, with a strong will and determination.

A private graveside service will take place at Pinecrest Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Ottawa Hospital Foundation would be appreciated.