Alfred Otto Lanza

World War II Veteran

Alfred Otto Lanza, 83, died at Ashlar in Newtown January 21. The son of Otto and Vincenzina Lanza, he was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 28, 1923.

Mr Lanza is survived by his aunt, Frances Kershaw of Lockwood Lodge; two sons, Thomas of Southbury and Jack of Washington, D.C.; a daughter, Patricia of Santa Monica, Calif.; a brother, Frank of Cleveland, Ohio; a sister, Rosalie Jasinski of Dallas, Texas; three granddaughters, Melissa Hudspeth of Oakdale, Jennifer Lanza Townsend of Greensboro, N.C., and Amy Tucker of North Kingstown, R.I.; and five great-grandchildren. His wife, Bertie Lanza, predeceased him.

He attended Case Western Reserve University before enlisting in the Marine Corps at the outbreak of World War II. He received a battlefield commission while serving in the Pacific Theater as a military cartographer. He participated at Boganville, the invasion of the Salomon Islands, and Guadalcanal. Following the war, he served in San Francisco as military attaché to Edward Stettinius during the founding of the United Nations. It was during this time that he was a military advisor for the movie Guadalcanal Diary.

Mr Lanza went on to become an artistic director and officer for a number of Federated Department Store affiliates: the Higbee Company in Cleveland, John Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia, and Woodword & Lothrup in Washington, D.C. He later operated a retail fixture design business in New York City.

He retired to Las Vegas from Stamford in 1993. He and his wife of 60 years returned to Connecticut in 2003, settling in Heritage Village, Southbury. Most recently Mr Lanza resided at Lockwood Lodge in Newtown.

Visiting hours will be held Saturday, January 27, from 11 am until 12:30 pm, at the Munson Lovetere Funeral Home at 235 Main Street North, Southbury, with a funeral mass following at Saint Rose of Lima Church in Newtown at 1 pm.

 Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the building fund of St Rose of Lima, 46 Church Hill Road, Newtown CT 06470.

The Newtown Bee        January 26, 2007