[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 173 (Monday, November 7, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1112]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING DR. MICHAEL KOSZTARAB

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. H. MORGAN GRIFFITH

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, November 7, 2022

  Mr. GRIFFITH. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. Michael 
Kosztarab of Blacksburg, Virginia, who passed away on September 6, 
2022. Dr. Kosztarab was a longtime entomology professor at Virginia 
Tech who led an exciting and heroic life in his journey from his native 
eastern Europe to Southwest Virginia.
  Dr. Kosztarab was born in 1927 in Bucharest, Romania, to Michael 
Kosztarab and Berta Albert of Transylvania Hungarian descent. He spent 
much of his early childhood under the care of his widowed maternal 
grandmother in eastern Transylvania before returning to his parents in 
Bucharest at the age of six. They later moved to Budapest, Hungary. As 
a teenager during World War II, he defied the Nazis by aiding Jews in 
the city's ghetto, and while staying in a building with 36 Jews was 
arrested when the Nazis raided it. He was arrested and held in custody 
until Soviet forces arrived in Budapest.
  After the war, Dr. Kosztarab worked for a floriculturist and then the 
Ministry of Agriculture's Bureau of Plant Protection eradicating pests. 
He enrolled in university and, based on his work in the ministry, 
decided to pursue entomology. He became an assistant professor, but 
Communist rule meant his position was accompanied by indoctrination and 
attempts to turn him into an informant.
  When the Hungarian Revolution broke out in 1956 and was brutally put 
down by the Soviets, Dr. Kosztarab and his wife Matilda knew they had 
to flee the country, but also knew they could not yet take their infant 
daughter Eva with them. The couple evaded border guards and crossed an 
icy river into Austria. Dr. Kosztarab then arranged for Eva to join 
them. He traveled on a train that briefly crossed into Hungary for nine 
days. On the ninth day, as guards were looking the other way, Eva was 
tossed in a bundle to Dr. Kosztarab through a window. The family made 
its way to the United States the following year.
  After earning a PhD at the Ohio State University, Dr. Kosztarab 
became a professor of entomology at Virginia Tech in 1962. His career 
was characterized by prolific research, writing, and teaching. He 
discovered new insect species, authored or co-authored six books and 
170 research publications, and received the W.E. Wine Award for 
Excellence of Teaching in 1968. Dr. Kosztarab served as a Founding 
Director of the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History and as Founding 
President of the Virginia Natural History Society. The Commonwealth of 
Virginia named the Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly as the State Insect 
thanks to a campaign he led with the Virginia Federation of Garden 
Clubs.
  Among the accolades Dr. Kosztarab earned over the course of his 
career are the Association of Systematics Collections' Annual 
Recognition Award in 1994, the Thomas Jefferson Medal for Outstanding 
Contributions to Natural Science from the Virginia Museum of Natural 
History Foundation in 1998, the L.O. Howard Distinguished Achievement 
Award of the Eastern Branch, Entomological Society of America in 2001, 
and fellowship in the Royal Entomological Society of London in 1989. He 
retired from Virginia Tech in 1992.
  Dr. Kosztarab's wife Matilda passed away in 2013. He is survived by 
his daughter Eva Kosztarab, son-in-law Kenneth Kastner, grandsons 
Gregory and Matthew Kastner, granddaughter-in-law Katharine Hagen, and 
great granddaughters Lia and Abigail Kastner. I offer them my 
condolences on their loss. Dr. Kosztarab stood up to the two great 
totalitarian systems of the 20th century, Naziism and Communism, and in 
the United States led a distinguished career. It was a life that showed 
the promise of America and the character of Dr. Kosztarab.

                          ____________________