In Memoriam: Injured Worker Champion Joe Koonz

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

“Champion of injured workers” Washington DC injury attorney Joseph H. Koonz, Jr. (at right in photo) died September 26; he was 78. “Joe fought tirelessly to ensure that injured workers received all the benefits they were entitled to,” said Metro Washington Council President Jos Williams. A longtime supporter of the Metro Council and the Community Services Agency, Koonz’ law firm “provided our pre-dinner reception at Evening with Labor for at least 20 years,” added CSA Executive Director Kathleen McKirchy, “and the firm has represented many of the Council’s affiliates for worker’s compensation and personal injury. Joe was a wonderful man with a great sense of humor who cared deeply about DC and its politics.” Koonz has served as President of the District of Columbia Trial Lawyers Association, and was named its “Trial Lawyer of the Year” in 1990. He has also been a guest lecturer in trial practice at Georgetown University Law Center and the Columbia School of Law at Catholic University. Relatives and friends are invited to call at Joseph Gawler’s Sons, 5130 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W. (corner of Harrison Street), Washington, D.C., Thursday, October 3rd from 6-8p.  A Catholic mass will be celebrated in his honor Friday, October 4th, at 10a at Saint Stephens Martyr Catholic Church, 2436 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. photo by Bill Burke/Page One