Lasting Memories

Laszlo Fono
Jan. 5, 1929-Sept. 23, 2023
Atherton, California

A Life Well Skied www.TheFonos.com

Laszlo Fono, a champion skier born in Budapest, courageously escaped the oppression of Communist Hungary during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution with his wife Paulette, emigrating to America for freedom in 1957. They spent 8 years in Denver, Colorado. True to form, in 1958, the unstoppable Laszlo won the US National Cross Country Skiing Championship in 30km.

In 1965, the couple and their new born daughter Andrea, moved to San Francisco where Laszlo was best known as co-founder of The Magic Pan restaurant, introducing French crêpes to America, expanding to over 48 Magic Pans nationwide.

As visionary restauranteurs, together with his business partner Paulette, they spent fifty years creating multiple successful trend-setting European eating establishments known for their menu and design concepts. In 1974, the Fonos opened Paprika’s Fono in Ghirardelli Square as a celebration and tribute to their Hungarian heritage.

Culminating in unique eateries at Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto CA: the Italian café and gelateria Bravo Fono (1979), Café Andrea (1987), Madam Paulette’s (1987), and Babbo’s (1989) mediterranean style restaurant.The truly impeccable service and consistently delicious dishes created a gastronomic experience that loyal customers returned to for decades.

Visitors to the restaurants will remember Laszlo’s Hungarian accent as he recounted neverending ski stories of his youth. Since the Soviet Union’s domination of Hungary in 1948, Laszlo felt the direct impact of the stripping of his family’s business estate and fortune. He channeled his grief into competitive sailing and cross-country skiing. This earned Laszlo the opportunity to travel to international race competitions, a rare privilege during the Stalinist years. His pride in being a member of the Hungarian Olympic Ski Team was always alongside a bitter disappointment at Stalin’s last-minute denials (for fear of defections) of the team’s right to travel to the winter Olympics in 1952 and 1956.

But the friendships lasted … Throughout life, he’d regularly meetup with his ski team buddies, also emigrees, at Heavenly Valley to enjoy Hungarian sausage sandwiches on the lifts while reminiscing and joking about the ‘old country’. His biggest boast was always that not once in all his years of skiing did he ever fall!

Annual trips with Paulette for spring skiing to Lech, in the Austrian Alps continued until Laszlo was 86 years old! And for many more years, they savored life together on delightful gourmet travels throughout France and Italy.

The ever-sociable and dapper Fono was out walking and greeting neighbors until the end. Laszlo died at 94 peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by family at home in Atherton.

Laszlo is survived by his wife of 70 years Paulette Fono, his artist daughter Andrea Fono, and son-in-law Frank Rocky who devotedly tended to his care in the final years. Cremated at his request, his ashes will be placed in the family’s private crypt at his St. Anna Templom, a magnificent baroque church located on the banks of the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary where he was baptized and married to his dear Paulette.

With the loss of my father last year, I didn’t anticipate the impact that tectonic shift would have in our lives and regret it’s taken so long to bring this public remembrance forward … It certainly has been a journey of grief, remembrance, gratitude and love. - AF

The family invites you to join us at www.TheFonos.com to share memories of Laszlo and your unforgettable meals from any of the Fono Restaurants.