Zoltan was born in Ozd, a small town in Hungary, an only child to Erzsi and Barna Poznan. Part of his early education was in a Jesuit boarding school, where he was always cold and hungry, which may explain why so many of his friends, girlfriends and wives were jewish and why he loved matzo ball soup. He was not religious but he was a deeply spiritual man.

He finished high school in Ozd and graduated from medicine in Budapest just before the Hungarian revolution in1956.

He had many funny anecdotes from his teens and university years and loved to tell stories about his unusual escape from communist Hungary.

When choosing his new home, he claimed he knew very little about Canada and picked it because it was closer than Australia. He ended up loving Canada and was very proud to wear his Canada pin on all his trips.

His first job in Toronto was sweeping floors at 999 Queen St before he embarked on his post graduate training both in Canada and the US at Cook County hospital in Chicago.

He loved his work and his patients and practised well into his 80’s. His patients in turn loved him and many continued to call him for advice.

He loved to travel and soak up the local culture and history in most countries of Europe, North and South America, Africa, Australia and China, but his two favourite destinations were Hungary and Park City Utah. Utah was for a ski holiday every year from 2001 to 2016.
When Covid put an end to travel, he made up for it by watching Rick Steves.

He was also a news junkie and an avid reader and listener of the Economist.

Cooking was a major hobby and challenge. As a Bonnie Stern graduate, he made sure that the family was well fed. His signature dish was cucumber soup, but he was best known and appreciated for his bagel chips which he regularly supplied to friends and family.

He was a peoples’ person who managed to meaningfully connect with everyone and anyone he met always said “what a nice guy”.

He had the most amazing relationship with his mother-in- law, Anne Gellert and his grandchildren were always a great source of pride.

He had great insight and firm values and his family will no doubt ask themselves “what would Frog/Papa do?”

We miss you so much already.❤️