OBITUARY: Charles Koblentz

Charles Koblentz, 93, of Longboat Key, died April 30.

Born in Chicago, he married his college sweetheart, Evelyn Dunn, in 1939, and soon moved with her to Washington, D.C., where his career advanced quickly while he conducted personnel management studies for various federal government agencies.

During World War II, he served in the Office of Statistical Control at the Pentagon with the rank of chief warrant officer in the U.S. Army Air Force. Post-war, he returned to the federal government, where he planned and conducted a reorganization of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

His government career was cut short, however, when he was investigated in the late 1940s by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) on grounds of guilt by association. At the ensuing hearing, he was exonerated of all charges.

In 1950, Mr. Koblentz joined a management-consulting firm but was dismissed when the firm learned he had been investigated by HUAC. Throughout much of the 1950s and 1960s, Mr. Koblentz worked at jobs dictated not by choice but by the constraints imposed by blacklisting.

However, in 1966 he joined American Trading and Production Co. (ATAPCO), where he rose to executive vice president for the Industrial Group and served on the board of directors. After retiring from ATAPCO in 1993 at age 75, he moved to Longboat Key, where he continued his long walks that began as a boy in Chicago. He also maintained homes in Baltimore and, later, in White Plains, N.Y.

Mr. Koblentz enjoyed traveling with his wife, Evelyn, and later with his sons, Joel and Gerald. He had a strong interest in the social, economic and political forces that shaped history. He read widely and wrote a chronicle that set the events of his own life within the context of the times in which he lived. Mr. Koblentz is remembered for his strength of character, intelligence, moral integrity and devotion.

Mr. Koblentz was preceded in death by his son, Paul.

Mr. Koblentz is survived by his wife, Evelyn; sons Gerald and Joel; daughter, Suzanne Goodman; two grandsons; and two great-grandsons.

A funeral service was held Tuesday, May 3, in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, mazon.org.