Lili Sarnyai

Big life in a tiny nutshell

Lili Sarnyai BA., MPhil., PhD (1989–2020)

The life of LILI SARNYAI was like a colourful, intricate puzzle, rich with adventures and stories – each piece forming part of the exquisite picture of her life. For 30 short years, she pursued her dreams with unwavering determination.

A global citizen with family ties in seven countries on three continents, Lili held BA and MPhil degrees from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD from the University of London. A versatile leader, athlete, writer and artist, Lili effortlessly navigated the worlds of academia and the glitterati, with experience in public relations, publishing, and global business intelligence investigation.

Lili embodied positive individualism: petite with super short hair and a nose piercing, she was a free spirit. Often the smallest person in the room, yet strong and fierce: fighting for what matters, seamlessly blending her passions into the unique person she became.

Lili's remarkable journey began in December 1989, in a small Hungarian university town. The only child of research physicians, a Yugoslavian/Hungarian mother and Hungarian father, Lili's family moved to Boston when she was two and to New York when she was seven. Dressed as a little princess, her parents’ constant companion, Lili was a delightful child with intellect beyond her years, and a perfect balance of seriousness and joy. After an idyllic childhood and then a traumatic family breakup in her early teens, Lili and her mother embraced life with unwavering resilience, turning it into an extraordinary story of friendship and hope; while Lili transformed herself into a young woman with contagious enthusiasm, and her life into an adventure of possibilities.

Lili's schooling spanned across prestigious institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom. Exceptionally brilliant, she received numerous academic awards, as well as study, research, and travel grants. Her early education in Boston and New York laid the foundation of her holistic understanding of the world. At 11 she joined her mother in the UK for an exciting adventure. Skipping a grade, she became the youngest student at Bootham School, a renowned Quaker institution in York. Her love for the school led her to stay on as a boarder for three additional years. Following a year at the United Nations International School in New York, Lili returned to England to study at the Perse Upper School in Cambridge. There, her passion for art and literature flourished; and she was elected Prefect – her captivating aura and extraordinary scholarly aptitude established her as a natural leader.

No surprise that Lili pursued her higher education in English literature, in the UK, earning the highest honours. She read English Literature at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, graduating with a First in 2010. She then went to King’s to earn her MPhil in English and American Literature (Comparative Literature, Drama) in 2012. While at Cambridge, Lili was elected to represent her fellow students on the Council of the School of Arts and Humanities and on the Cambridge Faculty Board of English. In 2016, five months ahead of schedule, Lili defended her PhD in Comparative Literature: Intellectual History and History of Ideas at the University of London. Exploring the intersection of fairy tales and medicine, under the supervision of Professor Dame Marina Warner, she submitted her thesis, Figuring ‘Sleeping Beauty’: Metamorphosis of a Literary and Cultural Trope in European Fairy Tales and Medicine, c. 1350-1700. Fullversion-2016SarnyaiLphdBBK.pdf

Never one for the comfort of a well-travelled path, Lili pursued a non-traditional career with boundless energy. From an early age, she turned her passions for sports, writing, books, languages, art, fashion, and understanding people into career choices that reflected her versatile personality and her breathtaking achievements.

With her mother as her role model and training companion, sports threaded through every chapter of Lili's life, becoming as essential as breathing, shaping her identity as an athlete, and providing a context for everything else. She often reflected on how seven years of gymnastics – the hours of rigorous conditioning and repeating routines until perfected – instilled in her the core values of perseverance and resilience. As a young adult, she took on new athletic pursuits, such as CrossFit, martial arts and swimming. The turquoise waters of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva), with the snow-covered Alps in the distance, held a special place in Lili’s heart – leading her to compete in a Nyon-Léman open water swimming competition in autumn 2019.

Despite these varied athletic experiences, from age 15 running became the core sport of Lili’s life. ‘Isn’t it wonderful,’ she said, ‘the places a simple pair of running shoes can take you?’ Always up for the next trip, she ran tens of thousands of miles across roads in big cities, sleepy villages and on exotic seashores. Rain or shine, she would lace up her trainers and hit the road; capturing the magic of the sunrise was her greatest joy.

In Switzerland in 2018, Lili discovered her passion and talent for trail running, awakening her competitive spirit. A new 30–40 km mountain trail, ‘jogging’ from Geneva to Lausanne, with loops through the vineyards overlooking the shimmering lake – finishing with a big ice cream – defined a perfect day for her. Ultra marathon trail running encompassed everything Lili was looking for in a sport: immense natural beauty, unimaginable physical and mental demands of running a 100–170 km race at 2,000–3,000 metres above sea level, and the camaraderie of her fellow runners. ‘Out there, when it’s just you on a mountaintop in the middle of the night, your headlamp illuminating the next few rocky steps, the starry sky, the freezing wind: that’s as close to happiness as I’ve found.’    

Working tirelessly on improving her skills, building up her distances and elevation, in the span of only two years, Lili ran the LG Trail 110 km, Swiss Peaks Trail 170 km, Swiss Alps 100 km, Moutier Trail, 50K; Trail Vallée de Joux 59 km; and the 100 Millas Sierras del Bandolero 160 km in Spain. With podium finishes in all races – except once after injuring her ankle and still finishing the race – Lili emerged as a promising new talent in the world of ultra trail running. As a respected member of this community, Lili spent a year prior to her accident interviewing fellow runners for a book about the transformative power of this extreme sport.

The enchanting world of creativity – playing with words, colours and textiles as a form of artistic expression – was central to Lili. Her childhood summers, designing dresses alongside her maternal grandmother, an authority in children’s couture, sowed the seeds of Lili's deep-rooted love for fashion. She was always stylish, with the most exquisite dresses. With her fashion sense and indefatigable drive, she secured four coveted internships in high fashion; and positions at Vogue, Teen Vogue, and The Times, where she worked as a Fashion Desk Editorial Assistant. She was also a Fashion Editor, Columnist, and Contributing Writer for The Cambridge Student.

Bilingual in English and Hungarian, fluent in French, and versed in Italian, Latin, Classical Greek, Spanish and German, Lili had extraordinary linguistic prowess. She even taught herself Russian, just for her love of its melodic allure. Immersed in diverse cultures throughout her upbringing and globe-trotting lifestyle, Lili embraced and nurtured her heritage, and translated to English the Hungarian fairy tales she grew up with.

Lili's other passion, books, was evident – as she was rarely seen without one. Her eclectic interests and lightning-fast absorption of knowledge were awe-inspiring. With a particular fondness for antique books, she volunteered as a Library Research Assistant and Rare Book Cataloguer at King's College Library; and explored bookstores and antique booksellers in search of hidden treasures. When offered the position of Research Assistant to the General Editor of The Cambridge Edition of the Complete Fiction of Henry James, Lili couldn't resist; James's writings resonated with her own life, feeling at home both in the USA and the UK. To learn about the business side of publishing, during term breaks Lili took on a position in New York as Trade Publicity Intern at W. W. Norton & Company (2009); and in 2010, after completing her undergraduate degree, she served as Executive Assistant to the CEO at Cambridge University Press.    

Lili’s exceptional written and communications skills, and her interest in branding, landed her various journalistic and public relations internships. She was a contributing writer for Varsity, the independent Cambridge student newspaper. Recruited as the Editorial Assistant for Beauty News NYC, an online beauty magazine founded by esteemed jewellery designer Kimberly McDonald, Lili helped launch her line of fine jewellery (2007–08). And as the Executive Producer at Social Life Magazine (2009–18), Lili immersed herself in the world of high society in New York. She interviewed celebrities, wrote articles, and organised luxury events for hundreds of VIPs. She excelled in connecting people and creating new initiatives – brokering introductions and establishing strategic brand partnerships with clients like Laurent-Perrier, Porsche, and Christie’s.

With natural public speaking and presenting talents, a great sense of humour and an endless supply of literary quotations to inspire, Lili left a lasting impression on her students during two summers as an International Summer School Lecturer with Bucksmore Education (Cambridge).

To understand life’s intricacies, and the complexities of herself and others, Lili explored philosophy, psychology, and psychoanalysis. Captivated at an early age by Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken, Lili asked: why do people end up where they do? She believed that every person has a story worth listening to, and with her unique gift to talk to and connect with others, Lili happily chatted with people from all walks of life.

In the summer of 2018, recruited by a global business intelligence agency in Geneva, Lili embraced an unexpected opportunity and moved to Switzerland. It was a job that allowed her to apply her different skills and talents, and a chance to learn something new. She worked on high-profile cases, leading cross-border investigations into white-collar crime, international money laundering, and politically/economically motivated financial malfeasance. Meeting fearless agents, heads of state,      and intelligence agencies, Lili thrived in this exciting, potentially dangerous world. She was full of energy, optimism, and a desire to do something meaningful.

Lili’s extraordinary journey, defined by an unyielding faith in the transformative power of human experiences, ended tragically on 6 August 2020, in a sports accident while pursuing her passion for running among the snow-covered peaks of the Swiss Alps, preparing for her next 170-km race. A bronze plaque at the Col des Chamois Nord commemorates her life amid those majestic heights, bearing her words: ‘I used to think happiness was a goal far away in the distance over the horizon. Then I realised it’s the peaks and valleys, in the here and now, that really count.’ This eternal reminder encourages all who pass by to embrace life to its fullest every day, as Lili did.

Lili was like a treasure box, full of distinct precious jewels of brilliance. She generously shared her gifts to bring happiness and enrich the world. A bench now stands in her memory in the Fellows’ Garden at King’s, adorned with an edelweiss and a quote that epitomises her spirit: ‘Life shrinks or expands in relation to one’s courage’.