Dr. Ferenc Heltai (Hoffer)

Mayor of Budapest.

מגלות היוחסין של משפחות יהודיות הונגריות- כרך ראשון עורך- מונקאטשי pg. 84

Information provided by an official source from Beit Hatfutzot, Tel Aviv.

הלטאי, פרנץ

Heltai, Ferenc (1861-1913), lawyer, economist and Hungarian politician who became mayor of Budapest, born in Szentes, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire). He studied at the Universities of Budapest and Leipzig,Germany. At the age of 23, in 1884, he wrote a memorandum proposing a revision of industrial law in Hungary. It won him the prize of the Hungarian Academy of Arts and Sciences, and inspired national legislation. As a result he was also elected a member of the economics' committee of the Academy, and from 1886 to 1887 edited the committee's review, "Nemzetgazdasagi Szemle". He became economics editor of the periodicals "Ellenor" and "Nemzet", and later editor-in-chief of a magazine on railways and transportation, "Vasuti es Kozlekedesi Kozlony".

In 1891 he became a member of the Budapest City Council, and then a member of its public works committee. He assisted in the complete reorganization of the Budapest district administration. Elected to be a member of the Hungarian House of Deputies from 1896 to 1913, he played an important role in the economic upswing of those years as a director of some public utilities and a legislator. He published many articles and memoranda on economic matters and introduced a number of bills on behalf of the economic and financial parliamentary committees. Heltai was a member of the Austro-Hungarian delegation on matters of dual government, where he voiced his opinion on matters pertaining to the navy. He published a volume "A magyarsag a hadseregben" (1904).

In 1913 Heltai resigned his membership in the House of Deputies when chosen to become Mayor of the City of Budapest. Emperor Fraz Joseph then nominated him to be a member of the Upper Chamber.

מגלות היוחסין של משפחות יהודיות הונגריות- כרך ראשון עורך- מונקאטשי