Olga Kertesz was born June 8, 1936 in Zurich Switzerland and passed away suddenly May 5th while visiting in her home country. She will be missed greatly by many lifelong friends and family.
Olga courageously left Switzerland for England as a teen, to work as an Au Paire. She had the opportunity to accompany another family to Toronto Canada in 1958 and jumped at the opportunity. It was there that she met her husband of 53 years, Joseph, a Hungarian immigrant. They married after a brief courtship and welcomed daughter Julie a year later.
Joseph and Olga were unstoppable and left Canada for the U.S. in 1963, living briefly in New York, Michigan and ultimately settling in Burlingame where they resided for over 50 years. Joseph left his engineering career and Olga her accounting job, to fulfill their dream of owning their own art gallery. They proudly ran Kertesz Fine Art Gallery in San Francisco for 40 years, primarily selling Joseph’s paintings.
Olga spread joy to all who knew her and maintained her upbeat positive outlook on life through thick and thin. She was a kind, confident, loving soul who never uttered a derogatory word about anyone. Grandmama loved her grandson Alex fiercely; he was her everything. They embraced life’s experiences together and were able to share their bond even more during the lockdown, hunkering down together. Olga enjoyed her daily crosswords, taking walks, socializing, and was a voracious reader. She enjoyed her cats and birds and had a love of pastries. She leaves behind her daughter Julie Venosa, much-adored son in law Joe, her grandson and soul mate Alex and her sister Erika Fitze and family in Switzerland. Her husband Joseph predeceased her in 2013.
Olga always believed “it isn’t what happens to you in life, but how you choose to respond”.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Orly Museum of Hungarian Culture in Berkeley would have been her wish. 1720 Arch St. Berkeley, CA 94709.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.