Lantos memorialized

In a room filled with civic leaders of all levels, the late congressman Tom Lantos was praised by those who knew him best as a hero of human rights and a role model for everyone.

"He saw the worst in the world ... and he worked each and every day to heal it,” said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Lantos, who celebrated his 80th birthday Feb. 1, died Feb. 11 due to complications from esophageal cancer at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland. He was the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress. He served 27 years in Congress, was one of the top ranked Democrats and chaired the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Approximately 500 people from all walks of life attended yesterday’s memorial at the South San Francisco Conference Center. The memorial celebrated Lantos’ journey from Nazi-occupied Hungary to the United States, where he raised his family, taught at San Francisco State University and held his congressional seat for nearly 14 consecutive terms.

"He was an all-America Hungarian,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Lantos was always a scholar and loved books, said friend Tom Szelenyi who met Lantos in their native country 74 years ago.

Lantos would opt for a book when Szelenyi picked up a soccer ball. He read daily newspapers "because he cared what was happening in the world” at the young age of 10, Szelenyi said.

Another lifelong friend was his future wife Annette. The two met as children at Eva Gabor’s first wedding. Gabor was Annette’s cousin. Annette was later invited to Lantos’ bar mitzvah where "she was the only girl there,” she said.

The three friends were struck by fate during the beginning of World War II. Lantos was forced into a work camp and Annette fled to America. Annette found Lantos and the two have been inseparable for the last 58 years. The couple later found themselves living in the Bay Area just a few blocks from Szelenyi, he said.

Szelenyi’s wife, Evelyn, is Lantos’ longtime district chief of staff.

Lantos, known to most as a stoic diplomat, began his career as a hard worker with a flare for fun. On a scholarship to the University of Washington, Lantos worked every spare minute so he could send money home to an aunt and uncle, some of his only surviving family after the Holocaust. He worked the night shift as a grocery store clerk, at a concert hall and served sandwiches at sororities houses, Annette Lantos said.

As a faculty member, Lantos was one of the first to televise his class and even had his student perform Hungarian drinking songs, said daughter Annette Tillmann-Dick.

While working as a professor of economics at San Francisco State University, Lantos started the California State University student exchange program. Lantos has a deep desire to instill in others the same sense of worldly understanding he earned through his life’s journey.

"He did much more than open up the world to me, he opened me up to the world,” said daughter Katrina Swett.

As a father, Lantos taught memorable life lessons to his two daughters, she said. Swett remembers her father teaching her that "each life was meant to be a purposeful narrative — sometimes happy, sometimes sad.”

Tillmann-Dick recalled the four concentric circles her father once drew for her — the center circle represented family, the following representing community, the following was the nation and the outer circle represented the world.

"He hoped it was our goal to contribute at every level,” Tillmann-Dick said.

Lantos raised his family in Millbrae, where he sat on the local school board. In 1980, he won his bid for the 12 Congressional District, representing San Mateo County and a southern part of San Francisco. There will be a special election April 8 to fill his seat until the November election.

As Lantos’ time in Congress progressed, his bonds across the world increased and his steely resolve for human rights grew stronger.

"Tom and Annette were received as a royal couple by presidents, prime ministers and kings,” Pelosi said.

He spoke truth to power, Pelosi said.

His early struggles gave him a greater appreciation of what the United States could offer and a platform for his human rights work, friends said.

"Tom Lantos represented for me the politics of hope,” said Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. "He gave me a reservoir of hope that will last my entire life.”

In his final days, Lantos told his family not to grieve his death and that he was happy with his accomplishments. Life was like a wonderful vacation and like all vacations, it must come to an end, Annette Lantos said.

"Nothing real can be threatened or die and the love Tom and I shared for 70 years is alive,” she said.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.