It is with great sadness that the family of James (Jim) Jozsef Nyitrai announces his passing on June 3rd, 2025, at Hornepayne Community Hospital. He passed away peacefully with his family and friends at his side. Jim remained unbelievably strong these past weeks, though he finally succumbed to complications due to recent strokes over the last few months.
Jim was born on January 5th, 1938 in Budapest, Hungary as Imre Jozsef Nyitrai to the late Mihaly Nyitrai his mother Aranka Straub and adoptive father Ferenc Szabo. He grew up in turbulent wartime Hungary and the subsequent Soviet occupation with his family and remained in close contact with is younger sister Maria after his escape from Hungary during the Hungarian revolution.
Jim began his career in the automotive trades working on transit buses and trolleys as a young boy in Budapest while also completing his schooling. During the violent Hungarian uprising against the occupation by the Soviet regime he made the difficult decision to leave his family behind and escape to Austria in November of 1956. His desire for a better life, free of oppression and war led him to spend time in Italy and finally settling in Canada at the age of 19. He lived in Montreal for a period and later Sault Ste. Marie where he completed his automotive mechanics training & apprenticeship while also learning the English language. Jim answered a newspaper job advertisement for a mechanic required in Hornepayne Ontario. Shortly after he stepped off the train to start his new life, he met his future wife, Ronetta at the local restaurant. Jim and Ronetta were married on August 11, 1962, where they remained together until Ronetta’s passing on August 16, 2016. The garage and service station that began his career in Hornepayne soon expanded with the opportunity of ownership for which everyone would later know him as “Texaco Jim”. His love of all things mechanical led him to his second passion of flying where he acquired his pilot’s license and later his Cessna 180 floatplane. Jim and Ronetta also love their time at the camp on Larkin Lake where Jim continued Ronetta’s passion for flowers after her passing by maintaining wonderful beds of flowers every year at the camp.
Jim embraced his Hungarian heritage and made four return trips back to visit his sister and niece in Budapest over the years. This also sparked a new culinary passion in recent years with some of his best chicken paprikash being shared this past year with his close friends.
He is survived by his children Brenda Nyitrai (Shawn), Brockville Ontario; Maria Centrowitz (David), North Redington Beach, Florida; James Nyitrai (Carrie), Thunder Bay, Ontario; and his four grandchildren who he so dearly loved, Samantha Marinier, Cameron Olski and Nolan and Jack Nyitrai as well as his niece Maria Molnar of Budapest Hungary.
A deep and heartfelt thank you to the family of doctors and nurses at the Hornepayne Community Hospital who spent countless hours caring for Jim and making him comfortable with dignity in his final months, additionally all the kitchen and custodial staff of the Hornepayne hospital have provided an enormous amount of support and care to our family during this difficult time for which we are grateful for. Thanks also to Jim’s many friends for their visits as well as the wonderful food they provided and all the assistance that his neighbors and close friends provided him this past year.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Hornepayne Community Hospital.
A celebration of life will take place at a later date.
“Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us every day… unseen, unheard, but always near, still missed and very dear.”
