Dr. Kalman Kovacs, a founding editor of the journal Endocrine Pathology, and his wife Dr. Eva Horvath (Fig. 1) were pioneers in endocrine pathology; together, they built the foundation for the discipline that we now practice.

Drs. Kalman Kovacs and Eva Horvath

The couple studied, met, and married in Hungary. Kalman was born in Szeged in 1926, and he received his medical doctor (MD) degree from the Medical University of Szeged in 1950. From the earliest stages of his career, he was interested in pituitary endocrinology, and he went to study in England with Professor Harold Sheehan; he obtained his doctorate (PhD) from the University of Liverpool. Armed with full training in both clinical endocrinology and pathology, he was well prepared to be a founder of this subspeciality. Together with Eva, 4 years younger and qualified with a PhD in electron microscopy, they were a formidable pair of investigators. When Hans Selye invited them to travel to Canada to work with him on the endocrinology of stress, they came to Montreal. Ultimately, they both became Canadian citizens and professors at the University of Toronto where they studied the pituitary and its tumors for 50 years.

Their impact in this field is legendary. Starting with histochemistry and electron microscopy, then applying immunohistochemistry, they established the current classification of adenohypophysial cells and went on to describe the various types of tumors that arise in that gland. They participated in studies of humans and animals, collaborating with people from all around the world. They were involved in the “first” description of many types of pituitary disorders, from hypophysitis to hyperplasia due to hypothalamic hormone excess to pituitary blastoma. Their insights were usually correct, even when predicting that their own terminologies, such as “null cell” tumor or “silent subtype 3 tumor”, would become obsolete with advances in technology.

Kalman was devoted to endocrinology and pathology and when the opportunity arose, he jumped at the chance to start a Society and a journal. In 1990, having just published the textbook Functional Endocrine Pathology with Blackwell Publishers, Kalman convinced the publishers to start the journal Endocrine Pathology and the first issue was published in the same year. Working with Hubert Wolfe, he instigated the initiation of the Endocrine Pathology Society (initially called the Endocrine Pathology Club) which held its first presentations at the USCAP meeting in March 1991.

Kalman and Eva lived for their work. The entrance to their home was decorated with a plaque indicating that one had arrived at the “Casa Pituitaria.” Kalman loved to travel; he once said that he was very fortunate to be paid for doing his two favorite hobbies: studying the pituitary and traveling the world! Kalman and Eva had no children, but their professional progeny includes almost everyone who is currently working in endocrine pathology, as well as many endocrinologists and neurosurgeons who study and treat pituitary diseases. Both Kalman and Eva were great mentors for many undergraduate and graduate students, medical students, and pathology residents. They also served as mentors to established academicians and many other physicians, all of whom remember them dearly for their caring ways and interest in their careers. There are now many physicians working with pituitary diseases who have been trained and inspired by them scattered all over the world, and some of them have become internationally recognized experts in endocrine pathology and in other areas of pituitary diseases.

Their work did not stop until the very end of their lives. Kalman was still collaborating on papers when he passed away at the end of 2022. As a scientist, he was an iron man who continued to “work hard in order to arrive at the truth and to achieve success” until he could work no more. Eva could not live long without her lifelong partner and she passed away early in 2023.

While they will be sorely missed, we celebrate the enormous contributions of these two wonderful people. They would have been very proud of the papers in Endocrine Pathology that elucidate the advances in our understanding of structure–function correlations in endocrine tumors, and the importance of pathology in predicting hormone status, prognosis and therapeutic approaches for patients with endocrine disorders of all types.