He worked tirelessly for the rise of his home in economic, cultural and scientific areas, earning the honorary title of "Széchenyi of Transylvania".

He presided the Székely National Assembly in Agyagfalva (today: Lutița, Romania), which supported the Hungarian War of Independence.

Besides these, he had also important role in the establishment of the Franz Joseph University at Kolozsvár (today: Cluj-Napoca, Romania) in 1872.

[1] He sponsored the National Theatre of Kolozsvár, encouraged the emergence of modern education and agriculture and actively took part in the cases of Calvinist Diocese of Transylvania.

He served as Minister of Public Works and Transport in the Cabinet of Gyula Andrássy, the first government of Hungary after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867.