By Julie Sneider, Senior Editor
Today, Zoltan Kovacs is completing his last day on the job at Wabtec Corp. Based in Mansfield, Ohio, Kovacs is retiring after a 60-year career with the company and one of its predecessors, Ohio Brass Co. A regional manager for the company’s passenger transit group, he retires as Wabtec’s longest-serving employee, according to company officials.
Kovacs, 87, went to work for Ohio Brass after immigrating to the United States from Budapest, Hungary, in 1957. He fled his home country in 1956 after participating as a freedom fighter in the failed uprising against Soviet control of Hungary. It took just two weeks for Soviet troops and tanks to crush the rebellion. After that, Kovacs was among the tens of thousands of Hungarian refugees who fled the country.
“I was lucky enough to go into Austria, where I went to the United States consulate and asked for political asylum,” says Kovacs, his Hungarian accent still evident when he speaks. “And this great country was kind enough to give me asylum. On Feb. 28, 1957, I arrived in the United States and went to Camp Kilmer, where some of the Hungarian refugees were held.”
A federal immigration officer and a representative of the Red Cross contacted a distant relative of Kovacs who spoke Hungarian and invited him to stay with the family in Mansfield, Ohio.
“When I came to Wabtec, I got to learn about brake systems invented by George Westinghouse, which are literally the best air-brake systems ever designed,” says Kovacs, shown talking with an attendee at a Wabtec conference. WabtecLearned the American way
Prior to leaving Hungary, Kovacs was a co-op student working as a tool and die maker at Ganz-Mavag, a large locomotive and freight-car manufacturer in Europe. When he arrived in Mansfield, his uncle suggested Kovacs take a job with a local tool and die machine shop that did work for manufacturers such as General Motors and Ohio Brass.
“It was a great idea because I learned how to work with the American system [of tool and die making], which is different from the European system,” Kovacs says. “And I really did learn how to work with the American methods.”
Kovacs’ skills were in high demand, as the mid-century manufacturing boom was well underway in the United States. By 1962, he became a U.S. citizen, and by 1964 went to work as a lab technician and assistant development engineer at Ohio Brass, which among other things manufactured components used in trains, streetcars and trolley buses. Eventually, he was promoted to running the company’s development lab and services, a role that gave him a hand in designing or co-designing everything the company made, he says.
In the early 1990s, Ohio Brass was acquired by Westinghouse Air Brake Co. (WABCO), which merged with MotivePower Industries Inc. in 1999 and adopted the name Wabtec. Working for Wabtec meant taking his skills to a whole new level.
“I knew quite a bit about couplers and components that [Ohio Brass] provided to passenger trains,” Kovacs said in an article posted on Wabtec’s website. “And, of course, a lot of the coupler equipment is interfaced with the brake equipment through the air-brake system air connections. But when I came to Wabtec, I got to learn about brake systems invented by George Westinghouse, which are literally the best air-brake systems ever designed.”
Gratitude for a good life
Asked why he worked for the same company his entire career, Kovacs says that, as the company evolved via acquisitions, it diversified into all kinds of product lines that kept him interested in his work. Also, he enjoyed working with his Ohio Brass/Wabtec colleagues, liked serving the company’s “very good and longtime customers,” and didn’t want to move away from Mansfield.
“Honest to goodness, I cannot really tell you how fast that 60 years went by,” he says.
And, of course, the job helped him support his family. Kovacs and his wife, whom he married in 1959, raised two daughters and a son. He’s remained single since his wife died of cancer while she was still young, he says. Today, his three adult children continue to live near him in Ohio; he also has two grandsons and two great-grandchildren who live in Denver. He’s looking forward to visiting them more often during retirement.
“Since I’m a single guy, I decided that I will help to pay off my grandkids’ student loans. Obviously, it took a little time, and I was able to pay it off and then also have a good life,” he says.
In addition to visiting his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, he’s looking forward to staying physically active — as he has throughout his life. For many years, Kovacs was involved in martial arts, something he studied while in Budapest — and which he taught at a local YMCA and the Mansfield Police Department until he was well into his 70s.
“Obviously, at 87, I will not be able to practice my martial arts, but I still keep myself somewhat in shape,” he says. “In the summer I will go kayaking, swimming and bike riding.”
Kovacs is ending his Wabtec career on the 60th anniversary of his hiring date at Ohio Brass.
“I am grateful for my company that I was able to work that long and was able to make a very decent living,” Kovacs says.
He adds: “I am so grateful that I was able to immigrate into the United States and be part of the American system. I try to be active in anything where I can contribute to the society that gave me so much.”
