U.S. Chief Prosecutor in Nazi War Crimes Trials Dies at 85

William D. Denson, a Harvard Law School (HLS) graduate and chief prosecutor for the U.S. in the Nazi war crimes trials in Dachau, Germany, died of heart failure Sunday at his home in Lawrence, N.Y.

"He was a wonderful man, and he had a brilliant legal career," said Ralph E. Bucknam, a classmate of Denson's at both the U.S. Military Academy and HLS.

Denson, 85, died peacefully in his sleep with his children at his bedside, said his wife Constance, the former Countess Constance von Francken Sierstorpff.

Denson was the chief prosecutor for atrocities committed by Nazis in four concentration camps--Dachau, Mauthausen, Flossenberg and Buchenwald--in trials held between 1945 and 1947.

Of the 177 defendants Denson faced during the trials, 97 were executed. The rest were sent to jail, many with life sentences.

Denson, born in Birmingham, Ala., spoke about his experiences in the war crimes trials at schools and before religious groups and local organizations.

In 1948, after the trials, Denson became chief of litigation for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in Washington, D.C.

He was the commission's representative in the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the pair executed on charges of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.

In 1952, Denson joined the New York law firm Morgan, Finnegan, Durham & Pine, where he specialized in litigating patents, trademarks and copyrights. Denson later joined the Long Island firm Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein, Wolf and Schlissel.

He served as mayor of Lawrence, N.Y., from 1966 to 1976.

Constance Denson said her husband's death had not come as a surprise. "He's been very sick, but we kept him at home," she said. "This was expected."

She said her husband proofread his own obituary, published Sunday by the Associated Press.

Bucknam said Denson's achievements were many, and that he would miss his former classmate.

Denson is survived by his wife; their three children, Yvonne McQuiken, William Denson Jr. and Olivia Fischetti; and five grandchildren. Funeral services will be held tomorrow morning in Hewlett, N.Y.