He was born in Hungary, emigrating via Antwerp, Belgium to New York City and joining the Hungarian community in New Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey.

His son Sandor Fekete II (1906-1983) lived in Princeton and worked as a bridge tender also.

[3][4] Fekete's first job was laying brick and breaking up rocks along the Delaware and Raritan Canal.

He was promoted to foreman of a twenty-eight-man work crew, living in an apartment on Conduct Street in New Brunswick.

In 1916 he was promoted to locktender in Griggstown, Somerset County, New Jersey, United States.