Karl W. Horlitz, 95
Karl William Horlitz died on Saturday at Southampton Hospital, to which he had been admitted after a fall at his East Hampton house. According to his son, Karl Steven Horlitz, his father, who was 95, was still “the same old spicy guy on Friday and died peacefully a week later.” The younger Mr. Horlitz recalled that “two weeks ago he was reciting the Gettysburg Address, which he knew by heart.”
He was born in Crossen an der Oder, then part of Germany, on Nov. 6, 1921. The town was renamed Krosno Odrzanskie at the end of World War II and is now part of Poland. When he was 3, he moved to the United States with his parents, Wilhelm Frederick Horlitz and the former Anna Seidel, and two sisters who died before him. They were Hilda Harris of Alexandria, Va., and Angelica A. Pennecke of Valley Stream. The family settled in the Yorkville section of Manhattan.
Mr. Horlitz graduated from the Straubenmuller Textile High School in Manhattan and then took courses at Pratt Institute in manufacturing and engineering. He received a New York State license as an engineer, and worked for many years as a plant manager for John Hassall Inc., manufacturers of specialty rivets and screws, based in Westbury. He retired in 1984.
On Dec. 25, 1942, he married Friedel Basler of Germany on her parents’ 25th wedding anniversary. The couple were accomplished skiers. Mr. Horlitz served in the Army from 1944 to 1946, after which he and his wife moved to Queens Village. In 1981, they bought a house in East Hampton, becoming full-time residents. She died before him.
An active community member, Mr. Horlitz belonged to the American Legion, the East End Ski Club, the National Ski Patrol, the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Nature Conservancy, the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society, and the Settlers Landing Property Owners Association. He frequently wrote letters to editor of The East Hampton Star about politics and conservation. He also loved writing poetry and in August of 2015 was invited to read his poem “The Senior Center of East Hampton” at an East Hampton Town Board meeting.
Mr. Horlitz is survived by three children, Susan Friedel Vujnovich of Bayside, Queens, Janice Marie Stanley of Massapequa, and Karl Steven Horlitz of Concord, Mass. Five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren also survive, as do six nieces and nephews.
Visiting hours will be held at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton on Monday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. A funeral service will take place at Incarnation Lutheran Church in Water Mill on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m., with burial to follow at Calverton National Cemetery. Memorial donations have been suggested to the Nature Conservancy, online at nature.org, or by mail to the Center for Conservation, P.O. Box 5125, East Hampton 11937.