Armand A. Korzenik – Brigadier General, United States Air Force

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From a contemporary press reports: July 2003

Prominent attorney dies in courtroom.

Armand A. Korzenik, a prominent attorney and retired Brigadier General with the Air National Guard, died Thursday, morning July 17, 2003 of an apparent heart attack while trying a case in a Connecticut courtroom. He was 75.

Korzenik’s military career began in 1945, when he enlisted in the Army. He retired from the Connecticut Air National Guard in 1982 after 30 years of service. Korzenik set up the first basic training program for the Air Force and wrote the first draft of what would become the “Airman’s Guide.”

Korzenik received his BA and Law Degrees from Harvard in 1951. He earned an LLM from Yale in 1952. During his career he held numerous elected and appointed offices in Connecticut. He also held state and national positions with the Bar Association.

He is survived by his wife, Ursula and his daughter, Andrea McCarren, a news anchor at Washington’s WJLA-TV (ABC-7) and two sons, Peter of Norwalk, Connecticut, and Jeffrey of Marblehead, Massachusetts. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations in his name to the Connecticut Historical Society. Funeral services will be held in Hartford at a future date. He will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

Armand Korzenik Dies; Lawyer, Ex-Official

July 19, 2003

Armand A. Korzenik, a former city official and a respected lawyer in Hartford for 50 years, died Thursday morning in a courtroom at Hartford Superior Court.

Korzenik, 75, of Terry Road, Hartford, was in the second-floor courtroom Thursday to represent a client in a motor vehicle case. Shortly before 9:30 a.m., witnesses said, Korzenik apparently had a heart attack and fell to the floor.

Court marshals, city firefighters and paramedics unsuccessfully tried for nearly an hour to revive Korzenik, who was immediately described by colleagues as an old-school lawyer who retained the qualities of a “gentleman.”

Born in Hartford, Korzenik spent his entire life here. He collected Hartford memorabilia, including a letter from Mark Twain to his lawyer, his daughter Andrea McCarren said.

Married for 47 years, Korzenik was a retired Brigadier General with the Air National Guard and a retired colonel with the U.S. Air Force. He served in World War II and the Korean War.

He went to Harvard College and Harvard Law School and obtained a master’s degree from Yale Law School. He was the former chairman of the Greater Hartford United Negro College Fund and a registered justice of the peace in the city since 1960.

City Clerk Daniel Carey said the city lost a positive advocate for the city with Korzenik’s death. He said Korzenik served on the Democratic town committee for many years, worked as a assistant corporation counsel, and was a former member of the Hartford Board of Education and the city’s redevelopment agency.

Korzenik donated his services to the Mount Moriah Baptist Church for years.

“Every single piece of property and legal transaction, he did it for Mount Moriah [Baptist Church] for 40 years, and he wouldn’t take a dime,” said the Rev. Wayne Carter, pastor of the church. “He was incredible.”

Charles Condon, the secretary of the University of Hartford and a friend, said Korzenik never lost his love for the law, and his attitude rubbed off on his clients. For the past few years, the university referred many students to Korzenik when they got into legal trouble.

“He was a man of great personal charm. He had an infectious enthusiasm that inspired others’ trust. You always felt good being around Armand,” Condon said.

Korzenik also was loyal. He married his wife Ursula in 1956, and the two still held hands when went they went out in public, his daughter said.

Anne Rosser, his assistant for the past 30 years, said her boss would be missed in the profession. She said he would have been proud to die while practicing law.

“He would be glad. He loved the court,” she said.

“He was a true gentleman of the law,” said defense lawyer Michael Georgetti, who is also chairman of the Hartford County Bar Associations’ Criminal Justice Committee. “He practiced by the standards which are disappearing amongst lawyers,” Georgetti said. “His word was his bond. He was respected by prosecutors and defense attorneys alike.”

Aside from his wife and daughter, Korzenik leaves two sons, Peter and Jeffrey.

aakorzenik-gravestie-photo-august-2006

KORZENIK, ARMAND ALEXANDER

  • COL   US AIR FORCE
  • VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 10/31/1943 – 10/31/1987
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 10/31/1927
  • DATE OF DEATH: 07/17/2003
  • DATE OF INTERMENT: 10/03/2003
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 5-GG  ROW 25  SITE 2
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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