Joseph Korzenik

Beloved Joseph Korzenik, 85 years of age, of West Hartford, died Sunday, January 16, 2011. He was the husband of the late Ruth (Spaien) Korzenik. Born in Southern Poland, he was the son of the late Zallel and Mindla (Roth) Korzenik. Joe was a Holocaust survivor. During World War II he was first incarcerated in his hometown ghetto and later in seven slave labor and concentration camps. At the end of the Holocaust he was liberated by the American army arriving in the US in 1946. He attended Hartford High School and Hillyer College now known as the University of Hartford. He was a corporate legal administrator in real estate, communication and R/E development. Joe chaired the Annual Holocaust Commemoration in the Senate Chambers of the State Capitol in Hartford. He visited schools throughout New England, NJ and NY lecturing about the experiences he endured as a young man, what he termed the stupidity of hatred, and “Man’s Inhumanity to Man.” He was a member of The Young Israel of West Hartford, ADL, Bnai Brith and Ararat Lodge #13. He leaves his children, Bruce R. Korzenik of Avon, and Michele B. Siegel and her husband Larry of Avon; two grandchildren, Jennifer Magalhaes and her husband Andre, and Andrew Jay Siegel and his fiance Camille Sauer; and a great-grandson Lucas Magalhaes. Funeral services will be held Monday, January 17, 2011 at 1:00 PM in the Chapel of the Weinstein Mortuary, 640 Farmington Ave., Hartford with interment in Beth Hillel Synagogue Cemetery, Wolcott Rd., East Granby. Shiva will be observed at his home. Memorial contributions may be made to Voices of Hope, Jewish Federation Association of Connecticut (JFACT), Attn: Voices of Hope, 40 Woodland Street, Hartford, CT 06105, or FAVARH, PO BOX 1099, Canton, CT 06109. For further information, directions, or to sign the guest book for Joe, please visit online at www.weinsteinmortuary.com/funerals.cfm.