Gordon Drazen

CHESHIRE - Gordon Drazen, 89, of Cheshire died peacefully on Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, at Masonicare Health Center, Wallingford.

Mr. Drazen was born May 13, 1923, in New Haven, the son of the late David and Ida Drazen was husband to the late Anna Mildred (Milly) Sternlieb Drazen. Gordon, as he was known to his friends, graduated from Hillhouse High School, New Haven and attended Georgia Tech. During World War II, Mr. Drazen served in the infantry with the U.S. Army in Italy. Upon his return to Connecticut, he completed his college degree at The University of Connecticut. A resident of Cheshire since 1952, Mr. Drazen was a member of Congregation Mishkan Israel, Hamden. Mr. Drazen spent his first career as a civil engineer and project manager. He worked as a vice president at the W.J. Megin Company, Naugatuck and later worked for Morganti Construction, Ridgefield. He then retired from E and F Construction ,Bridgeport. During the 1970s and 1980s, Gordon served on the Cheshire Sewer Commission and later the Cheshire Planning and Zoning Commission. After his retirement in 1982, he started his second career as an orchardist, renewing the plantings at Drazen Orchards, the farm established by his father, David Drazen in 1951. Over the years he expanded and updated the operation to include over 4000 trees and a new farm stand. He was an early adopter of integrated pest management and kept updated with the latest orchard news from the many periodicals to which he subscribed and by consulting others in the farming community.

He is survived by, daughter, Lisa Drazen and son-in-law, Kevin Meehan; son, Eli Drazen and daughter-in-law, Won Hee Lee, all of Cheshire.

There is a memorial service at the Drazen Orchards farm stand on Wednesday, Dec. 12, at 3:30 p.m. followed by calling hours until 7 p.m. The family requests that friends, in lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Gordon Drazen's honor to the charity of their choice.