Obituary of Miklos Kohary

Miklos Kohary was born in Budapest, Hungary on November 21, 1941 to Lajos Kohary and Katelin Barakovits. He passed away at his home in Edmonds, WA with his wife Natalia at his side. He is also survived his brother Lajos Kohary and cousin Marti Kohary in Hungary; In the U.S. by his sons Todd and Mike Kohary and their families; Ex-wife Cathy Newman; Sister and brother-in-Law Chin and Karl Zimonyi; and in Canada by Sister-in-Laws Ilona Baouya and Monica Korth; Brother-in-Law Farouk Baouya; Nephews Nabil and Daniel Baouya, Nieces Jasmine Jacobson and Amanda Hunter; and great Nieces Rhiannon and Presley Baouya.

Miklos' childhood was a difficult one, as he grew up on the streets of Budapest. The street smarts he developed and the skills he learned coping with difficult situations served him well throughout his life. When the Russians invaded Hungary in 1956, he tried to be as inhospitable as he could. He tried to escape, but was caught and jailed. He was released after a short time as he was known to be an excellent soccer player, playing at the highest level in Hungary.

In 1964, his team had a friend in Vienna, Austria and he was able to escape from the team security detail and claim asylum. He played for a team in Cologne, Germany, then Montreal, Canada and finally New York where a broken leg ended his professional playing career. He never lost the love of soccer!

All the while Miklos was playing soccer, he was also working as a pipefitter, eventually working his way up to becoming a superintendent. He worked on projects in the Nuclear, Chemical, Oil and Energy industry all over the West and overseas.

In 1977 he met Natalia Zimonyi (Natalia’s Stitch), a successful tailor in Seattle, WA and spent the rest of his life married to her. Shortly after, he accepted a position as the piping superintendent on a new gas plant in Saudi Arabia and the two moved there. In 1983, they returned to Seattle and Miklos became a realtor. His fellow realtors said he was successful because he wouldn't let his clients out of the car until they agreed to buy!

Miklos spent a period of his career as a top real estate agent in Seattle. His career as a real estate agent ended as he became a residential construction builder in Seattle in the early 1990’s.  After a few years of learning the building trade, he quickly became the top production builder in Seattle. It was in 1994 that Miklos started Kohary Construction and focused on building in-fill single family homes and townhomes. Miklos had several years where he built and sold between 50 and 100 homes each year, which was unheard of at the time (in Seattle).  He earned a reputation for building quality homes quickly, throughout almost every neighborhood in Seattle. Miklos built and sold over 1,000 homes in the course of his career. With the partnerships he developed, he became the biggest single-family home builder in Seattle. His friends include clients he has built homes for, employees, ex-employees, sub-contractors, vendors, bankers and renters.

In 2001, Miklos became the largest independent investor in Golf Savings Bank when Lynnwood Mortgage was converting to becoming a state of Washington chartered Bank.  Miklos’ support was instrumental in the success of a new Golf Savings Bank.           

Away from work, he loved soccer, golf, travel, and foreign cars (Especially Ferrari's!). Miklos had a passion for racing and loved the Ferrari rallies.  As a golfer, one of his holes-in-one came live on TV during a PGA pro-am.

Miklos was a unique man lived, loved, and inspired those around him to shoot for the stars. He will be thoroughly missed by all his family and an endless list of friends including but not limited to Roberto Perina and Bob Kannata.  

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be designated to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center for Dr. Pete Nelson's discretion. Memorials can be made online at http://fredhutch.org/mikloskohary or mailed to Fred Hutch, 1100 Fairview Ave N, Mail Stop J5-200 Seattle, WA 98109. Please make sure to include Miklos' name when making the donation.