I\u2019m doing what I want to do, and there is some defendant out there who needs a damn good lawyer. — Morton Katz '51<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n For the past 19 years, Katz has worked as a special public defender at Hartford Superior Court. The rest of his nearly seven decades in practice include a mix of civil and defense work and an appointment as a Superior Court magistrate. He is also a decorated World War II veteran who remained in the Army in intelligence and civil affairs roles until his retirement as a colonel in 1972.<\/p>\n While his frame may be bowed with age, Katz\u2019s wit and recall are stunningly sharp. He delights in telling stories about his favorite cases, and ticks off names and dates with more precision than people half his age. When he talks about his upbringing in Hartford and service in the Army during World War II, a fuller picture of him comes into focus. That\u2019s when his self-effacing nature, innate sense of justice, and commitment to serving others shine through.<\/p>\n Katz faithfully attends conferences at the law school and serves as a mentor, regularly visiting the school to speak to students.<\/p>\n \u201cHe brings immense warmth and vitality whenever he comes to campus. His example is a source of inspiration to everyone around him,\u201d says Timothy Fisher, dean of UConn Law. \u201cHe is a national treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n A self-described \u201cDepression kid,\u201d Katz dismisses himself as a mediocre student \u2013 despite making the National Honor Society at Weaver High School. With the help of a generous uncle, he attended the University of Connecticut, then known as Connecticut State College. He majored in chemistry, for which he had no aptitude he says, and graduated in 1939.<\/p>\n Katz joined the ROTC and Citizens Military Training Corps, and received a commission in 1940. Then, halfway through his second year of graduate school at Iowa State University, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.<\/p>\n \u201cMy professor, Henry Gilman, said \u2018Write your thesis and we\u2019ll get you your master\u2019s degree,\u2019\u201d Katz reminisces. He left school in April 1942 and went to Fort Benning, Georgia, for basic training.<\/p>\n It was on the train to Georgia that Katz had his first encounter with Jim Crow segregation. Four officers of color on the train were \u201cshown terrible racism,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThe treatment was shameful.\u201d The impression stayed with him and changed the course of his life.<\/p>\n During the war, Katz crisscrossed North Africa and Europe. He fought at Venafro and Anzio Beach in Italy, in the south of France, and the Ardennes region of Belgium, first with the Army\u2019s 502nd\u00a0Parachute Infantry, then with the 101st\u00a0Airborne and 509th\u00a0Parachute Infantry. When in 1945 his unit suffered massive casualties, he joined the 82nd\u00a0Airborne\u2019s 505th\u00a0Parachute Infantry, crossing the Elbe River and helping to liberate Wobbelin concentration camp.<\/p>\n![\"Milton](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/mkatz-2017.jpg\")
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