Peter de Koos

Peter was born in Budapest, Hungary to parents, Edmond de Koos and Esther Gordon. From an early age he had an interest in electronics; be it radios or other small machines. In 1956, during the Hungarian revolution, at age 19, he and his cousin Csanad Toth, escaped Hungary on their second attempt, by swimming across a river in December! From Vienna, Peter flew to Montreal, as a refugee sponsored by his uncle George.

His parents and sister joined him in 1957. At first, he worked as a laborer. Watching American film matinees at 25 cents helped his English. His knowledge of American movie stars’ names was amazing and useful playing Trivial Pursuit. He loved attending jazz and classical concerts but hated opera.

Peter eventually worked at Aviation Electric, where one of his bosses encouraged him to get an electrical engineering degree. Upon graduation from McGill in 1971, he started working at Foxboro in process control. He remained there until retirement in 2004. Ever modest, he was highly regarded as a project manager, travelling to jobs in Canada and the US. When he worked briefly in Holland, in 1999, colleagues thought they were welcoming home a long-lost countryman.

In 1972, during a dinner party, he met Mary Jane. The match-making hostess suggested Peter take her to the up-coming Hungarian Ball. (Peter was an excellent ballroom dancer, and was often asked to escort the debutantes at the Ball). Peter and Mary Jane married in 1973 and lived in the same house in Pointe-Claire for 53 years. There, his work room was cluttered with parts, found objects, broken machines that could be cannibalized, because you never knew when they might come in handy. He’d rather repair something than throw it out. Peter loved gadgets and three-dimensional puzzles, mathematical riddles.

In spite of health problems over the last 20 years, he didn’t complain. When he needed a pacemaker last March, he saw the irony that he, an electrical engineer, couldn’t fix his heart’s circuitry. In the end pneumonia, weak heart and lungs put an end to his successful life.

Donations to the Montreal Jewish Hospital Foundation would be greatly appreciated.