László Országh
László Országh (Szombathely, October 25, 1907 – Budapest, January 27, 1984) linguist, literary historian (the father of American Studies in Hungary), dictionary writer (author of English–Hungarian and Hungarian–English dictionaries), and university professor. Career. Born "László Pekker," his family took back his maternal grandparents' surname "Országh" out of respect in 1925. Graduating from the Premonstratensian High School in Szombathely, he began his university studies at the Eötvös József Collegium in Budapest, then completed them with a scholarship at Rollins College in Florida. In 1935 he received a doctorate in humanities. From 1937 he was a teacher at the  Eötvös Collegium, from 1942, a private lecturer at the Budapest Faculty of Humanities, and from 1947 to 1950 and from 1957 to 1969 he was head of the Department of English Language and Literature at the Kossuth Lajos University of Debrecen (KLTE). Along with Géza Bárczi, he was the editor-in-chief of "The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language" (1950–1962). In 1963, he launched the yearbook series of the English Department of the KLTE, one of the most important forums of English Studies in Hungary, entitled "Angol Filológiai Tanulmányok" ("English Philological Studies"). Through his study trips to the USA , he made a significant contribution to the establishment of American Studies in Hungary. His main research interests included the history of English and American literature. He is buried in the Church of St. Quirin in Szombathely; his grave site has been declared part of the National Graveyard of Hungary, in category "A", by the National Committee for Monuments and Commemoration.