William Lawrence Korst

Dr. William L. Korst, of Winnetka, California, passed away on October 20, 2014, due to complications from pneumonia. He was 92.

Bill was born on March 23, 1922, in Joliet, Illinois, to William F. and Marie Korst, and was the eldest of six brothers. Valedictorian at Joliet Catholic High School, he taught flight school at Lewis College in Romeoville, Illinois, while majoring in chemistry at the University of Chicago where he earned an MS.

In the early 1950s, studying for his doctorate at USC, he met his wife Mary, with whom he had four children: David, Lisa, Timothy and Pamela. He worked as a chemist in aerospace until the late 1960s, when he began a second career of teaching chemistry at several Southern California universities and colleges. He retired in 1992, but continued his education with an MS in Linguistics from CSUN in 1996.

Bill was driven by two main passions in his life. The first was genealogy. He was inspired to document his roots, and he authored and published a 200 page book on his family tree in 1969. He spent thousands of hours scouring libraries, churches, city halls and cemeteries for information. This research spawned an interest in travel and languages, and he often VW-camped with his family across Europe and America.

His second passion was the game of chess. Wherever he worked, he would start a chess club. He promoted the game and entered tournaments whenever he could. In 1964, Bill defeated future world champion Bobby Fischer in a simultaneous exhibition.

Bill is survived by his wife and four children, his brothers Joseph, James and Robert, and many nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by brothers Richard (2008) and Eugene (2014).