Henry Korzennik, chemistry teacher, art conservator

Henry Korzennik of Norwalk, who had taught chemistry at Ridgefield High School for three years and had been involved in art conservation, died Wednesday, Oct. 5, at his home. He was 53 years old and the husband of Lesley Schab Korzennik.
Mr. Korzennik had been hired in February 1997 to replace James Menousek, who had retired. Mr. Menousek died three days earlier, on Oct. 2.
A native of Vienna, Austria, Mr. Korzennik was born on Jan. 30, 1947, the son of the late Michael and Rose Bronheim Korzennik. He came to this country as a boy, and graduated from Bard College in 1968 with a bacehlor’s degree in chemistry. He held a master’s in the teaching of chemistry from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and had earned many extra credits in biology at Hunter College.
Mr. Korzennik began his teaching career at the International School of Lusaka in Zambia, West Africa, where he taught chemistry and physics for a year, and coached rugby. He also taught for two years in Costa Rica.
From 1985 until he came here in 1997, Mr. Korzennik taught at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts, the Manhattan school made famous in the movie, Fame.
Mr. Korzennik, who had also taken many courses in art history at Columbia University, had been a volunteer with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, working in its painting conservation laboratory. He had lived in Norwalk for 11 years.
Besides his wife, Mr. Korzennik is survived by a son, William Korzennik.
Services took place Friday at Temple Shalom Synagogue in Norwalk. Burial was in Independent Hebrew Society-Temple Shalom Cemetery in Norwalk.