Marianne Sebok's Obituary
Marianne Sebok was born in Budapest, Hungary, on September 2, 1926. Her parents were Miklos Vajda and Sara (nee’ Barber) Vajda. She attended Maria Terezia Gymnasium in Budapest between 1936 – 1944, graduating in March just before the fascist Arrow Cross overthrew the Hungarian government and allowed the Nazis to deport the Jews of Hungary. Her father (as well as his brother) were deported in 1944 to Bergen Belsen and she and her mother went into hiding outside of Budapest. In 1945, after the end of the war, the family was reunited. In the summer of 1945 Jews were allowed to attend university and Marianne began medical school at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest. In 1948, Marianne’s mother died of pancreatic cancer. In 1950 Marianne graduated from medical school and did a four-year residency in internal medicine in Budapest. In 1956, Marianne’s desire for political freedom led her to flee during the Hungarian Revolution with George Sebok. In 1956 Marianne and George married in Switzerland, where they were allowed temporary residency as displaced persons. Marianne worked for one year in a district hospital in Biel, Switzerland, and two years at the University Hospital in Geneva, Switzerland, where she published an academic monograph on dermatology. In 1960, Marianne and her husband moved to Birmingham, UK, where her son Andrew was born. In 1960 Marianne and her family moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Marianne and George became American citizens in 1965. Her second son, Anthony, was born in 1963. Between 1961 – 1965 Marianne was a resident at Albert Einstein Medical Center in northeast Philadelphia, and starting in 1965 Marianne was a staff physician at the AFL-CIO hospital in Philadelphia. Marianne also had an active private medical practice in Philadelphia, and was employed by the City of Philadelphia Department of Public Health as a public health physician, from which she retired in 1999. Since 2002 Marianne and George lived in Palm Beach, Florida. Her husband, George, predeceased her in 2003. She is survived by her sons, Andy, of Norfolk, Virginia, and Tony, of New York City, New York, and a grandson, Max, also of New York City. Marianne was a beloved healer, wife, mother, grandmother and friend. She touched the lives of all who met her, and will be sorely missed. She embodied the history of the Twentieth Century in Europe and the United States, and her survival is an achievement that will never be forgotten.
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