Andrew was a member of SNEB in the early years. He pioneered the Scanning course and wrote the first notes for it. He later became our landlord when he bought the building at 106 West Tamaki Road where we held classes up to 2009. Andrew was born and educated in Hungary, and he was among those who managed to flee the country before the Soviet army sealed the border in 1956. He was a teacher for many years at Mt Albert Grammar School, where he became head of Commerce, and founded the first Commercial Practice course.
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Andrew Harmos has died, aged 94 — 1 Comment
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“Christine,” said Andrew with a certain look on his face, “I’ll buy you a calculator for your birthday.”
I’d just confessed – quite recently -a wee bit of concern about accurately adding 10 per cent to a figure.
Everyone who knew Andrew Harmos knew the way humour could flood through. And wit, and compassion, and great awareness of what was going on around him. No time for fools, though, it was pointed out during his funeral service.
I wonder about that: he was one of the first tutors to volunteer to teach computer skills to the unsavvy when SeniorNet Eastern Bays was established at about the time 1999 was becoming 2000. It’s a sure bet he would have had to suffer a pretty good dose of foolishness while he strove to teach the computer illiterate of that time how to achieve certain results.
Andrew taught word processing for several years then, as Graham Wright has mentioned, went on to develop a course in scanning.
SeniorNet was not the only organisation to benefit from his grasp of electronic technology: other groups of people of a certain age group were also to learn or maintain their skills through Andrew.
His astute business sense was also on offer to the founding chairman of SeniorNet Eastern Bays, Russell Comber, who has been known to remark just how much Andrew helped ease some of the logistics involved in setting up and running an efficient organisation.
Andrew’s wide interests and keen brain – and that wonderful sense of humour -came though as people have learnt of aspects of his life in Hungary, his risk-prone political activism, immigration to New Zealand and the resolve to create a different life here for his wife and son.
“Andrew was special,” said a woman who had come to know him well during the years he was living in his Glendowie home. Members of SeniorNet who also knew him agree.