Dr. Geza J. Jako, one of our Emeritus Fellows, passed away on November 1, 2015 in Melrose Massachusetts at the age of 85 years old.
Dr. Jako was nominated for Active Fellowship by Drs. Stuart Strong and Albert Andrews and was
inducted in 1983. After retiring from practicing medicine in 2008, Dr. Jako requested elevation to
Emeritus status that became effective at the Annual Meeting in 2009.
Dr. Jako graduated Summa Cum Laude from Semmelweis Medical University in 1954. His interest in the
field of Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) Surgery may be attributed to his material grandfather, Dr. Geza
Krepuska, who was the first chairman of Otolaryngology at the University. Three years later, Dr. Jako
arrived in Boston by crossing the Atlanta Ocean aboard a Navy Military troop transporter. In Boston, he
completed his specialty training in ENT at Harvard Medical School where he would later join the faculty.
Beginning in 1962, Dr. Jako received recognition as being the first to implant two electrodes into a
patient’s cochlear. This effort led to the development of cochlear implants. This was also the year he
developed the first microsurgical instruments for surgical treatment of vocal cords and throat cancer.
He is survived by his loving wife of 50 years Maria M. (Gal) von Jako, and three children; Dr. Ronald A.
von Jako and his wife Ava; Cynthia M. von Jako and her husband Carl F. Taylor; and Dr. Christopher R.
von Jako and his wife Sheri; his sister, Klara Mertz and brother Ferenc Legrady of Budapest, Hungary.