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March 1, 2007 Ambassador Meets Families of Deceased Fire Fighters, Gives Donations Raised at Washington DC Concert
In Budapest, Ambassador András Simonyi met today with the families of the three Hungarian fire fighters who died tragically during a rescue operation last year. Ákos Horváth, Károly Reppman and Gábor Pintér lost their lives in a fire at the Technical University of Budapest in August 2006. Ambassador Simonyi gave each of the families donations of $10,000 raised during the "Rockin' for the Fire Brigades" charity concert in December at the Embassy of Hungary in Washington.
On December 1, the Ambassador’s rock band, the Coalition of the Willing, gave a benefit concert honoring firefighters in Hungary and in the United States. World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, several Ambassadors, firefighters from Washington DC, Los Angeles, New York and Hungary attended the event, among 400 other guests. The largest single donation was made by Sándor Demján, President of the Hungarian Federation of Employers, and his wife, Lídia Demján, who was present at the concert. See our report on the concert here.
The ceremony took place at the headquarters of the Budapest Fire Department. Remarks were made by Ambassador Simonyi, Budapest Fire Department spokesman Péter Molnár, and Budapest Fire Chief Péter Bende. Hungarian journalist Tvrtko Vujity, who had helped with the publicity of the concert, introduced the December event to participants. Lídia Demján, the most generous donor, was also present.
The Budapest Fire Department honored Ambassador Simonyi and Tvrtko Vujity with Count Ödön Széchenyi Memorial Plaques for their compassion. After the ceremony, the Budapest firefighters gave a tour of their headquarters to Ambassador and Mrs. Simonyi, and Mrs. Demján.
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