Chester S. Kurzet ’47

Chester died Oct. 12, 2013, in Portland, Ore.

Chester was born in Poland but managed to escape the country in 1939 when it became Nazi-occupied. Chester’s uncle, the Polish ambassador to Sweden, arranged visas through various countries to Italy, where some family members secured passage to Panama. His mother, already in the United States, secured his entry into the country.

He attended Cushing Academy in Massachusetts and graduated cum laude from Princeton in 1945 at age 18. Following graduation he enlisted in the armored branch of the Army and after two years was discharged as a second lieutenant. He then attended Yale Law School, from which he graduated in 1950.

Chester joined a New York law firm, but shortly thereafter moved to the Internal Revenue Service, where he stayed until his retirement in 1978. He was an estate-tax lawyer, and his expertise became nationally recognized. Among his special accomplishments were his admission to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1970 and making the first edition of Who’s Who in the Law. His primary outside interest was competitive duplicate bridge, and he attained the rank of Gold Life Master.

The class extends deepest sympathy to his wife, Louise; his daughter, Reuel; son Jay; and two granddaughters.