Beloved Pittsburgh Restaurateur Dies

PITTSBURGH, PA — To say Alexander Jozsa Bodnar led a remarkable life would be an understatement. After fleeing Hungary after participating in the 1956 Hungarian revolution, he arrived in Pittsburgh, had a successful marketing and advertising career, opened a Hungarian community center in Hazelwood and served as president of the 15th Ward Chamber of Commerce.

But Mr. Bodnar was best-known as the owner and chef of Jozsa Corner Hungarian Restaurant at the corner of Second and Hazelwood avenues. Though located in a nondescript building, Mr. Bodnar's homemade meals from scratch attracted great reviews and patrons such as the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, former Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and WQED-TV broadcaster Rick Sebak.

Mr. Bodnar died Feb. 26 after a year-long battle with cancer. He was 79.

As word of his death spread, tributes to Mr. Bodnar accumulated on social media - including one from his good friend and neighbor, Pittsburgh photographer Heather Mull.She said she often referred to him as her Hungarian dad "because he reminded me a lot of my own father (but with an accent and more paprika)."

"He used to leave cookies and bread for me on my porch," Mull recalled. "I spent one of my
favorite birthdays ever on swelteringly hot August night on the sidewalk of Josza Corner, after we moved all the tables from inside and sat there, eating a meal meant for winter and drank many many bottles of wine. I was practically immobile by the end, like a snake that has just devoured a large rabbit."

See Mr. Bodnar's full obituary here.

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