William Charles....God rest your soul. The funniest, most original, most entertaining, smartest, classiest, most cultured man I have ever met. And wonderful chef of course, absolutely wonderful.
A Renaissance Man
William Koneazny was a chef, a radio host, a critic, a saloon keeper, a veteran of two armed forces in two wars, an author of two cookbooks and two books on the Roman Catholic Church.
He and his brother, Jack, founded the Peerless Tree Expert Company in 1945, and he was among the first to be licensed as an arborist by the state of Connecticut.
Beginning in 1947, Mr. Koneazny was a host on the radio talk show, the ''Bill Wicky Hour,'' on a station in Torrington, and he ran a tavern, the Pearly Gates Saloon in Sheffield, Mass., just over the state line. Mr. Koneazny was employed as a restaurant reviewer by two newspapers, The Lakeville Journal and The Connecticut Western Newspaper.
Mr. Koneazny, a Hartford native, graduated from Weaver High School in 1944 and saw service in the Merchant Marine in World War II and in the Army in the Korean War.
Mr. Koneazny died June 16. He was 77.
New York Times
The Extraordinary Who Lived Among Us
By DICK AHLES
Published: December 26, 2004
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