William Corbett, Fordham School of Law Alum, Dies at 85
Corbett dedicated his life to supporting his family, helping those in need and serving this country
As a magistrate and interfaith minister, Corbett loved being present at weddings and around happy, loving couples.
April 26, 2023
William (Bill) John Corbett, Fordham School of Law ’65 and a community leader in Floral Park, Long Island, died on Jan. 30. He was 85 years old.
Corbett was born on March 15, 1937, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to John and Mildred Corbett. He was raised in Astoria, Queens until the age of 8 when his family moved to Floral Park in Nassau County on Long Island.
According to Thomas F. Dalton Funeral Homes’ tribute, Corbett graduated from Sewanhaka High School in 1955. While he was a student there, he was captain of the Floral Park Civil Defense Junior Rescue, a boy scout and head of Nassau DeMolay, a chapter of the international, a youth leadership organization for men ages 12 to 21.
After graduating from Hobart College in Geneva, New York in 1959, he reported for active duty as part of the 63rd Troop Carrier Wing of the U.S. Air Force. During his service, he carried out missions in 19 different countries and served as chief information officer on Operation Deep Freeze in Antarctica. According to his son William Corbett Jr., Corbett volunteered to join this operation because he was curious about this largely unknown region. Corbett went to over 70 countries and all seven continents throughout his life.
According to Corbett Jr. and Corbett’s daughter Sally Corbett-Turco, Corbett was very proud of his time at Fordham and believed it facilitated his professional endeavors.
Corbett was also a member of the Air Force Reserve Command for seven years and was briefly called to return to active duty during the Cuban Missile Crisis. According to Thomas F. Dalton Funeral Homes’ tribute, he received the Air Force Commendation Medal, Cold War Service Certificate, National Defense Medal, Armed Forces Expedition Medal, Outstanding Unit Award and New York State Conspicuous Service Medal for his service in the Air Force.
After his time with the Air Force, he enrolled at Albany Law School in 1962. After one year, he transferred to Fordham School of Law to be closer to his family after his father passed away.
According to Corbett Jr. and Corbett’s daughter Sally Corbett-Turco, Corbett was very proud of his time at Fordham and believed it facilitated his professional endeavors.
“My father, while not a Catholic, was a Christian, Episcopalian and a man of faith. He appreciated the connection to the Catholic Church that Fordham had,” Corbett Jr. said. “He was proud to have graduated from there.”
While attending the Law School, Corbett worked on Nelson Rockefeller’s reelection campaign for New York governor and was part of the Young Republican Club. It was at one of that organization’s meetings that he met his wife Ann.
“I told my friend that I liked Bill’s sense of humor, and I said, ‘Now he is the kind of guy I’d like to marry,’” she recounted when talking about their first meeting.
After graduating from Fordham in 1965, Corbett began working as an assistant district attorney in Nassau County. He later worked for Avon Products Inc., where he eventually became director of public relations. During his time there, Avon became involved with sponsoring the women’s tennis association tour, which Corbett was responsible for running, as well as other women’s sports events. He also fought for pay parity in women’s sports and worked to have the Olympics include a women’s marathon event.
According to his daughter, Corbett’s work with women’s sports did not always have a specific end goal; rather, he worked to improve the visibility of female athletes.
“That was important to him, equality and fairness. He obviously wanted that for my mother, sister and other female family members — that they should have the same opportunities as his sons and other people,” Corbett-Turco said.
“He was proud to have been able to contribute to that and to support the Voice of America and being able to support the broadcast of positive messages to people who were at the time, you know, locked into their countries,” John Corbett, Jr.
Corbett eventually left Avon and joined the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants as vice president of communications. According to Thomas F. Dalton Funeral Homes’ tribute, he also was part of the advisory board of the Center for the Study of the Presidency for 15 years.
Corbett was appointed by former United States President Ronald Reagan to be a member of the Communications Advisory Committee of the United States Information Agency in the early months of Reagan’s presidency. According to his son, Corbett, a staunch advocate of freedom and liberty, was proud to be part of this committee during the Cold War era. After visiting Yugoslavia, now Serbia and Montenegro, he and his wife gathered boxes of American books and sent them to embassies there.
“He was proud to have been able to contribute to that and to support the Voice of America and being able to support the broadcast of positive messages to people who were at the time, you know, locked into their countries,” Corbett Jr. said.
“Somehow, he managed to balance working on things at a national level, but then at the same time, he was here fighting against issues in our local community,” Sally Corbett-Turco
In 1999, Corbett founded Corbett Public Relations, where he worked intimately with the Floral Park community, providing them with several legal services. Corbett was heavily involved with his local community. For example, according to Corbett-Turco, when the Long Island Rail Road wanted to expand into the neighborhood, he led a group that united all of the local towns to ensure that if the project were to go forward, the concerns of the towns would be considered.
“Somehow, he managed to balance working on things at a national level, but then at the same time, he was here fighting against issues in our local community,” Corbett-Turco said.
According to Corbett-Turco, throughout their time together, her father and mother helped each other through many personal and professional endeavors, such as when his wife became the first female to hold the mayor’s office in Floral Park.
“The best thing about their marriage was how supportive they were of each other,” his daughter noted. “They both had a sense of adventure and a love of community and service,” his daughter noted.”
“He was a man of faith. He was a man of the community, and he was a man that cared,” John Corbett, Jr.
When he was 70, Corbett and his wife became interfaith ministers.
“We enjoyed hearing the love stories of brides and grooms, sharing with each other and saving the beautiful vows the couples wrote and exchanging stories about the funny and surprising situations that arose at some ceremonies,” his wife said.
According to their children, Corbett and his wife were true soulmates. At age 80, Corbett was informed that he needed to go on dialysis after his kidneys began to fail. When his wife found out she was a match, she donated one of her kidneys to him. His son said that this allowed Corbett to live a happy and relatively high-quality life during his final years.
“This inspired us to be a part of groups that promote donation. NY is behind most of the country in donation rates, so we hope that we have helped move the needle on that and this is part of Bill’s legacy,” Ann noted.
According to his loved ones, Corbett led an incredibly impactful life and left behind a legacy as a caring, generous and patriotic man.
He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Ann, and his three children: William Jr., Spencer and Sally. His son, Corbett Jr., delivered the eulogy at his funeral.
“He was a man of faith. He was a man of the community, and he was a man that cared,” Corbett Jr. said.
