John Zaborszky was born on May 13, 1914 in Budapest, Hungary. He received the Diploma of Engineering in 1937 and the D.Sc. degree, with special honors, in 1943 from the Royal Hungarian Technological University, also in Budapest. After receiving his degree, he took a position in operating the Municipal Power System and was a Docent with the Technological University there. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1947 and, after holding a position with the University of Missouri at Rolla, joined Washington University in St. Louis in 1954, where he developed the Department of Systems Science and Mathematics. He chaired this department, which emphasized control and systems engineering, until 1989. In 2003 this department merged with the Department of Electrical Engineering to form the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering.

John Zaborszky had extensive service to both national and international organizations. For example, he was a member of a panel in 1965 at the National Academy of Science to advise on the implications of the Northeast Power Blackout. He also was instrumental in the formation of the IEEE Control Systems Society, for whom he served as its president in 1970. He was a member of the IEEE Board of Directors and served as its Director of Division I from 1974 to 1975 and as President of the American Automatic Control Council (AACC) from 1980 to 1981. He is a Fellow of IEEE and a Distinguished Member of the IEEE Control Systems Society.

Throughout his life, John Zaborszky has been active in research. He has published two books and over 200 technical papers related to theoretical and practical aspects of power systems and their dynamics. He has been a consultant to numerous companies and organizations, including McDonnell Douglas, Emerson Electric, and Westinghouse. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and an Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Science. He also was the recipient of the Control Heritage Award of the American Automatic Control Council in 1986.