Walter Korn

      Walter Korn, born in 1908, fled Czechoslovakia during World War II, landed in London in 1939 with his wife, Herta Klemperer. Several years later, in Germany, he directed the U.N. Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, helping to relocate concentration camp survivors. In 1948, he served as national director of ORT in Geneva.
      He immigrated to the United States in 1950 and lived in Detroit, where he worked as business manager of the Jewish Community Center. From 1960 to 1964, he lived in Israel, working for both the Joint Distribution Committee and the United Jewish Appeal.
      After moving to California in the mid-1970s, he spent his retirement years pursuing his passion for chess. Korn died July 10, 1997 in San Mateo, California at age 89.

      Korn was a lifelong lover of chess and authored several books including "The Brilliant Touch in Chess," "America's Chess Heritage" and "The Art of Chess Competition."  He also wrote an 11-page essay on chess for Encyclopedia Britannica and for more than 50 years was a contributing editor to chess publications including Chess Life and the British Chess Magazine. He is best known for his work on “Modern Chess Openings.”
      Everyone who knew Korn call him a cultured man always impeccably dressed in suit and tie whose interests extended far beyond chess. "He was a brilliant man, but totally loving and warm," says John Burman, a family friend who considers Korn his grandfather. "He was a wonderful, kind-hearted, good person...very rare in today's world."
     There does not seem to be any extant Korn games, probably because the Feb 5, 1959 USCF rating list had him rated at 1997.