József Lenz (March 18, 1897 – March 14, 1965) was a commercial counselor, Hungarian Fruit Distributor, tradesman of exotic fruits, reserve hussar captain, decorated with the Order of Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, Chairman of the National Association of Fruit of Hungary, Vegetable and Food Traders of Hungary, Chairman of the Fruit Exporters and Importers Association of Hungary, member of the Hungarian Trade Statistics and Valuation Committee, and Vice-President of the "Association of Merchants of Fruits of Hungary", member of the organizing committee of the "Hungarian Fruit Export Association", tenement house owner, landowner in Nyékládháza, Bükkaranyos and Kesznyéten, art collector.
Biography
He was born in a wealthy Roman Catholic bourgeois family in Budapest, in the former Kingdom of Hungary. His ancestors can be traced back to the ancient Lenz family, which was member of the Swiss Bourgeoisie of Lenzburg. A branch of that family moved to Hungary and lived for several centuries in Pressburg, where they lived for about two centuries and then moved to Budapest around 1864. József Lenz was born on March 18, 1897, in Budapest. His father was Gyula Lenz (1848–1910), a wealthy Hungarian tradesman of exotic fruits, tenement house owner, and his mother was Anna Mária Etelka Gömöry (1874–1946), fruits tradeswoman. József lenz had two uncles, János Lenz (1843–1913), tradesman, Knight of the Order of Franz Joseph, and Ferenc Lenz (1851–1926), tradesman commercial counselor of the Kingdom, tenement house owners. The three Lenz brothers Gyula, János and Ferenc founded the southern fruits and spices (Südfrüchte Händler) trading company in 1864. In the following decade they acquired several buildings in Budapest, which were used as tenement houses that engrossed the capital of the family along the fruit trading company. According to the tax levies of the winter of 1935, Anna Gömöry the widow of Gyula Lenz, was the 6th higher taxpayer in Budapest, and one of the wealthiest person in the city.
On January 8, 1920, József Lenz married the Roman Catholic Klara Topits (1901–1993) in Budapest; she was the daughter of a wealthy family of the Bourgeoisie of the city of Pest. Klára Topits' father was Alajos József Topits (1855–1926), owner and director of the pasta factory "Son of Joseph Topits" (in Hungarian: Topits József fia), located in Budapest, which was the first pasta factory of the Kingdom of Hungary founded on 1859 by Klára's grandfather József Topits (1824-1876); Alajos Topits was also member of the Hungarian National Industry Council, Knight of the Order of Franz Joseph, and tenement house owner in Budapest. The paternal grandmother of Klára Topits was Klára Prückler (1833-1907), wife of József Topits (1824-1876); she was also member of a wealthy Roman Catholic family of the Bourgeoisie of the city of Pest. Klára Prückler's uncle was Ignác Prückler (1809-1876), founder and owner of the "Ignácz Prückler, Hungary's first rum, liqueur and champagne factory", the first Champagne and liqueur factory of the Kingdom of Hungary founded in 1834 in Budapest.
József Lenz was famous in Hungary between the two World Wars, not only for his wealth, but also for his persistent struggle and activities to protect Hungarian products during the Great Depression. Thanks to him, Hungarian products became known in Central Europe, and as a result of his activities, the economic crisis became more bearable in Hungary. In this lands the welfare situation of maids was exemplary. For example, in Nyékládháza, they built 25 modern flats in high-rise, reinforced concrete houses that they eventually got after long years of service at the company. He built the Roman Catholic neo-Gothic church in the village of Nyékládháza in 1943 and donating it to the people of the town. Gyula Czapik the Archbishop of Eger himself, who, after the ceremony, handed over the "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Order of Honor" to Jozsef Lenz. On the other hand, he gave scholarships to several students of the Budapest Piarist High School (This initiative was known as the "Lenz József Foundation").
The bankruptcy of the country in the early 1930s put import trade in Hungary in a difficult position. In the case of Turkey and Greece, severe compensations had to be made. 95% of the imports were handled by József Lenz. For four years, his company exported an average of a thousand horses a year to Turkey and Greece. In 1933, the Turkish Fig Producers' Association entered into an agreement with the Lenz Brothers for the import of citrus fruit to export 1,500 horses to Turkey in return for consignments of figs and other citrus fruits. Later, however, in 1934, the Lenz Brothers company was granted the right to supply artillery horses by the Turkish army.