Laszlo Bito, a research scientist who fled communist oppression in Hungary and went on to discover a breakthrough treatment for glaucoma while at Columbia University, died at his home in Hungary. He died at 87.
His wife said that the illness was caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and that it was caused by Dr. Bito's work as a forced laborer in a coal mine in his teens. He escaped after he and his fellow slave laborers disarmed their guards and headed to fight the Soviets.
Dr. Bito spent most of the past two decades in New York and Hungary. In New York, he was a respected scientist. He was a symbol of opposition to the Orban government and a supporter of a free press.
In 2015, Dr. Bito told a Hungarian television station that people have less reason to fear. Put your money where your mouth is, that is a good American phrase. You have to talk. You need to help. This is the right time for that.
Dr. Bito used his wealth to support causes related to the arts, public health and independent news outlets, including Club Radio, which was driven off the air by the Hungarian government. He supported the young musicians of the Roma, a group who have been discriminated against in Europe.
Leon Botstein, the orchestra conductor and president of Bard College, said that Dr. Bito was a man of uncommon courage. Dr. Bito donated millions to the college and its music school and financed a building named after him.
The large apartment shared by Dr. Bito and Ms. Carino on the side of the river became a gathering place for writers, artists, musicians, thinkers and activists. Istvan Rev, a professor of history at Central European University in Hungary, said that there was no agenda, just free-flowing conversation.
He said that the crowd was colorful and that it was like a zoo with all sorts of people talking to each other. He said there was an aura around him.
Dr. Bito used his literary skills to explore biblical themes of morality and evil, with titles like "Abraham and Isaac" and "Blessed Cain", both novels. He wrote 20 books, including 10 novels and seven volumes of essays. The myth that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus was laid to rest in his novel.
Ms. Carino said that her husband decided to leave science for writing because he had done enough. It was time to do something about spiritual blind spots.
Dr. Bito loved a good verbal sparring match. John Solomon, who has known Dr. Bito for more than six decades, said that he would jump on an opposing view immediately if he heard something he didn't like.
Dr. Bito threw a big party for himself in a Budapest auditorium, inviting several hundred guests. The highlight of the event was a conversation between Dr. Bito and a friend, the Hungarian philosopher and dissident Agnes Heller. Dr. Bito entered.
The stereotypical caricature of an old man was shown when he walked out onto the stage with crutches. He threw the crutches away to show he was in good health.
The image is.
Dr. Bito is in a photo. He was forced to work in coal mines after the Soviet authorities deported him and his family when he was a teenager. Bito Family has credit.
Laszlo Z. Bito was born in Hungary in 1934, a decade before the Soviet siege of that city. When he was a teenager, he and his family were deported to the Hungarian countryside and then sent to work in the mines in the city of Komlo. He hid his notebooks in the mines and left them there when he fled.
After receiving asylum in the United States, Dr. Bito was invited to Bard College, a liberal arts college 90 miles north of New York City, for a winter term of language study. He organized a 50th reunion for them.
He received a full scholarship to Bard, graduated in 1960, and went on to receive a PhD in cell biology and biophysics from Columbia, where he is now a professor. He was married to a Bard student, but they divorced in 1973. His two sons, John and Lawrence, are known as Buck.
Dr. Bito was interested in the chemicals produced by the body and how they might affect the eye. Prostaglandins raised intraocular pressure, which could lead to blindness. Dr. Bito had a theory that prostaglandins could lower the pressure.
Dr. Bito studied prostaglandins in monkeys, cats, and himself, squirting the chemical in his own eye to gauge how much redness and irritation it caused. In the early 1980s, his work led to a patent and a blockbuster drug, latanoprost, now marketed by Pfizer as Xalatan.
Ms. Carino said that Dr. Bito went back to Hungary as the Soviet Union crumbled. She said that after the release of Xalatan and his retirement from Columbia University, he began to spend more time in his homeland.
Ms. Carino said that Dr. Bito wrote extensively on the topic of "eutelia," meaning a "good end." She said that he was an advocate of assisted suicide and the need for specialists to help us out of life when it's time.
Dr. Bito wanted to publish some of his books in English, and he intended to do so under the title "The Curse of Obedience." Mr. Solomon said that Dr. Bito phoned him every night to talk about the project until he died.
Mr. Goodfriend said he had long conversations with Dr. Bito. He said that Dr. Bito was asking a lot of difficult questions, but looking to see, how do we know what is real and what is not?
