The academic community at the University of Manchester is in mourning following the sudden death of László Czabán, a respected senior lecturer at the Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS). He was 62 years old.
A Distinguished Academic Career
Born in Budapest to working-class parents, Ilona and László Czabán, he studied economics and finance at what was then Karl Marx University of Economics, now Corvinus University. After the fall of state socialism in 1989, he served as an economic adviser for the EU delegation to Hungary before moving to the UK in 1993 to take up a post at Manchester.
He was initially recruited to work on a significant research project analysing economic transformation in post-socialist Hungary. Colagues noted his exceptional intellect, which spanned beyond economics into the broader social sciences, philosophy, and humanities. His pivotal role was described as essential to the project's success.
Legacy of Scholarship and Leadership
Czabán's expertise was crystallised in his 2008 book, Recurring Crises: Macroeconomic Transformation in Hungary, considered by many to be the definitive analysis of the country's economic shifts in the 1990s. After a two-year period teaching at Leeds University Business School, where he researched Estonia and Ukraine, he returned to Manchester in 1998 for a permanent lectureship.
He was later promoted to senior lecturer in organisational analysis and international management. From 2007 to 2023, he developed and directed AMBS's flagship MSc in Business Analysis and Strategic Management, a programme that has since benefited thousands of international students.
A Life Beyond Academia
While building his career in Manchester, László Czabán made his home in Liverpool. He met his wife, Dolores James, during an EU-funded visit to Liverpool Polytechnic (now Liverpool John Moores University) in 1990, and they married in 1994. He is remembered as a warm and generous individual, devoted to Dolores, his stepdaughter Natalie, and her sons Aidan and Elliot. He is also survived by his brother, Attila.
His passing represents a significant loss to the field of economic sociology and to the many students and colleagues whose lives he touched during his three-decade contribution to British higher education.
