Professor emeritus György Meszéna passed away

György Meszéna was born in 1931 into a family of agricultural intellectuals. He graduated from secondary school in Pannonhalma and then obtained a degree in mathematics and physics at the Kossuth Lajos University of Debrecen. 

In 1961, he was appointed to the Department of Mathematics at the Marx Károly University of Economics. In 1992, he became Head of the Department of Operations Research and retired as Professor Emeritus of the Department of Operations Research and Actuarial Sciences. 

At the university, György Meszéna taught first probability and then mathematical statistics. He played a major role in the establishment of the education programme in planning and mathematics and was responsible for it within the department and the institute. Already in the 1960s he recognized the importance of computer applications and encouraged his students and colleagues to learn and use these software packages. Dozens of his personal students played a prominent role in the formation and development of the national – and, of course, the academic – community of economics. 

His research has been closely related to the economic applications of mathematical methods, with three main themes standing out: modelling of inventory management, calculation of economic risk, and analysis of the economics of investment. 

In addition to his wide range of publications, he has also played an active role in the academic community. He was a member of the editorial boards of several journals. He was President of the Economic Modelling Society from 1995 to 2003. 

He has received many awards for his work, but he was most proud of the Béla Krekó Award (Economic Modelling Society, 2003) and the Jenő Egerváry Memorial Plaque (Hungarian Operations Research Society, 2006) for his exemplary work in education. 

Gyurka, as everyone knew him, also served as the Chairman of the Trade Union Committee of Corvinus University of Budapest and participated in the meetings of the Board of Professors as an emeritus member. 

His funeral will be announced later. 

We share the family’s grief and cherish his memory! 

Community of the Institute of Operation and Decision Sciences, Department of Operations Research and Actuarial Sciences