Louis Schmidt

* Érsekújvár, October 31, 1903 – † Szombathely, June 30, 1975 / surgeon, art collector, poet ; ; His father was a hussar sergeant, so he completed his secondary school studies in several places (Aranyosmarót, Budapest), and then obtained a doctorate in medicine from the Pázmány Péter University in Budapest in 1930. In addition to his medical studies, he also studied at the opera department of the Budapest Academy of Music and sang in the baritone role in the Schola Cantorum Savariensis choir in Szombathely. He also published a volume of poetry (Őszi bánat, 1941) under the pseudonym Lajos Érsekújvári. From 1930 he worked in the surgery department of the Szombathely county hospital, and later was also the director's surgeon. In 1950, he was dismissed under the pretext of reorganization, and for years he was treated as a politically unreliable person and could only serve as a subordinate doctor. Between 1956 and 1966, he was the factory doctor of the Szombathely shoe factory. His great passion was collecting art, and various exhibitions were held several times with the various objects he collected. In 1936–1940, he was the keeper of the Vasvármegyei Museum's Antiquities Collection and the founder of the magazine Folia Savariensis published by the Vasvegyei Múzeumbarátok Egyesülete. In 1968, he donated his collection of more than 40 thousand pieces to the city of Szombathely. This became the foundation of the Smidt Museum, of which he was the director from 1971 until his death.