News & Events
Hungarian Student Named Paul Kovi Scholar
at New York City College of Technology/CUNY
When Agnes Fustos was studying hospitality management in her native Budapest, little did she know that her life’s journey would lead her to cross paths with one of her great role models -- Paul Kovi -- the Hungarian émigré who became one of America’s most celebrated restaurateurs.
But cross paths they did, in a way that has changed her life: New York City College of Technology (City Tech) has just announced that Fustos is the recipient of the coveted Paul Kovi Scholarship in Hospitality Management.
The scholarship program, founded to honor Kovi, a City Tech alumnus, Class of 1953, pays tribute to his spectacular nearly four decades-long career in the restaurant industry, culminating in his 23 years at the helm of The Four Seasons. He died in 1998 at the age of 74.
Grateful for the opportunities offered to him in the United States, Kovi wanted to help students from underrepresented populations earn baccalaureate degrees in hospitality management at his alma mater. His goal was “to attract and give scholarships to students with the clear potential of becoming stars in the hospitality industry,” says Tom Margittai, who co-owned The Four Seasons with Kovi and was instrumental in establishing the scholarship at City Tech.
Just such a candidate is Fustos, a 23-year-old student whose desire to study hospitality management “has been a life-long dream. Like most Hungarians,” she said, “I was raised in the kitchen, which was always filled with love and my grandma’s delicious food.” Following high school, she studied hospitality management in Hungary for two years. Then, in 2003, after visiting restaurants and hotels all over Europe, she decided to move to New York. “What more could I wish for,” she asked, “with hotels and restaurants everywhere?”
Shortly after moving in with her aunt and uncle in Long Island, Fustos got a job as a banquet waitress at the Garden City Hotel. “I loved the job,” she explained, “and when I learned that the hotel’s owner, general manager and department manager had all graduated from City Tech, I knew that that was the place for me to study.
“While studying at City Tech, I learned how Mr. Kovi, a well-known and respected graduate from my country, succeeded in the restaurant industry because of his persistence, his belief in the industry and his love for this city. I’m so grateful to be the second recipient of the Paul Kovi Scholarship and am thrilled to be following in his footsteps.”
The Paul Kovi Scholarship in Hospitality Management was established in May 2000 by the Tom G. Margittai Foundation. It provides full tuition, books, fees and materials allowances for four years. The foundation’s namesake, Tom Margittai, and Kovi bought The Four Seasons in the seventies and were responsible for its re-emergence as one of the most highly regarded restaurants in the world.
“Now that I’m in the middle of my first year at City Tech,” says Fustos, who lives on Long Island in Malverne, “I know that I’ve made the right choice. I feel that the doors of opportunity will be open to me through my education and through the hospitality industry, in which I expect to enjoy a long and fulfilling career. I hope I will be able someday to give back all the favors I’ve been given in this extraordinary city, my new home.”
4.7.05
