CARL P. FORTUNA

FORTUNA, CARL P. Carl P. Fortuna, 87, of, Middletown, beloved husband of Fay (Fisk) Fortuna), died Thursday, October 15, 2015 at Middlesex Hospital. He was born in Middletown, the only child of the late Michael “Mickey” and Jennie (DiModica) Fortuna. He was a star track and field runner and football player at Middletown High School, from which he graduated in 1946. He was the quarterback on the celebrated Middletown High School football team in 1945 which travelled to Jacksonville, FL to play Andrew Jackson High in the annual Kiwanis Club Charity game. To this day, that football team is revered in the halls of Middletown High School. He became a veteran of World War II after volunteering with the US Marines Corp for 18 months after graduating Middletown High School. A founding partner of the Middletown law firm of Fortuna & Cartelli, P.C., Carl went on to a notable and exemplary law career that he practiced to his dying day. Long active in City of Middletown affairs, he served as Corporation Counsel under former Mayor Harry Clew. He also was a prosecutor in Middletown’s municipal court system and an administrative legal assistant in the Middletown Probate Court. For nearly 15 years in the 1970’s and 1980’s, he served as Chairman of the City of Middletown’s Personnel Board which oversaw the hiring of all classified city employees. He was a member of the Middlesex County Bar Association, the Connecticut Bar Association, the Middletown Democratic Town Committee, the Elks, the Italian-American Civic Order, the Garibaldi Society and the Middletown Sports Hall of Fame. Carl was known as a fearless litigator and a superior intellect. As much as he loved the practice of law, he always remained a student of the law, reading and discussing the most current decided cases from Connecticut and beyond. Carl graduated from Boston University in 1952 where he won a Phi Beta Kappa key and was graduated cum laude from Boston University School of Law in 1955. He was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts and Connecticut in July, 1955 and the Federal Bar in 1956. He made great friends and loved Frank Sinatra, good food, spirited discussions, fine wines, a good vodka martini, Misty the chocolate labrador, thoroughbred horse racing, the Yankees, the smell of the ocean air, Connecticut River Shad and, especially, his family. Besides his wife Fay, Carl is survived by his two daughters Jannine Fortuna of Middletown and Caryl Daly, Caryl’s husband Tim and their three children Ryan, Christine and Lindsay, all of Fort Salonga, NY; Michael Fortuna and his wife Phacharin and their son Jeffrey, all of Middletown; and Carl P. Fortuna, Jr. of Old Saybrook. The Funeral Liturgy will be held on Thursday, October 22nd at 10:30 a.m. at St. Sebastian Church, Washington St., Middletown, CT. Burial will be held at St. Sebastian Cemetery, Middlefield. Friends may call on Wednesday from 4 to 8 p.m. at Biega Funeral Home, 3 Silver St. Middletown. Those who wish may send memorial contributions to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, 1324 Motor Parkway, Suite 102, Hauppauge, NY 11788 or to the Amazing Grace Food Pantry, 16 Stack Street, Middletown, CT 06457. To share memories or express condolences online please visit www.biegafuneralhome.com.