Carroll Edwin Metzner

Middleton-Attorney Carroll Edwin Metzner passed peacefully away on Saturday, December 6, 2008, at Attic Angel Health Center after a long illness with normal pressure hydrocephalus.   He was born in Milwaukee on April 24, 1919, to Edwin Frank and Anna Clara (Henke) Metzner.   He graduated from Northwestern University in 1941 with a liberal arts degree and from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1943.   Attorney Glen H. Bell of the law firm Sanborn, Blake, and Aberg asked him to join the firm where Mr. Metzner practiced for 55 years, eventually becoming senior partner (the firm becoming known as Bell, Metzner, Gierhart, and Moore).   In 1998, Metzner left the firm and joined the Kasieta Legal Group.             Metzner was a well-known attorney, trying many, many cases.   He was a member of the Wisconsin and Dane County Bar Associations.   He resigned from the American Bar Association because of its liberal bias.   He was a 40-year member of the Federation of Insurance Counsel (now the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel).   He was cited in ""Best Lawyers in America"" for his trial work.   At a state bar meeting former Chief Justice Heffernan commended him for 50 years of legal practice.             Mr. Metzner was also well known for his political activity.   He was elected to the Madison City Council in 1951 and served for two terms.   In 1953 he ran for the Wisconsin State Legislature on the Republican ticket and served two terms.   It was during this time that the legislature passed the Metzner Bill, prohibiting the construction of any building along the lake shore higher than twenty feet, thus dooming the Monona Terrace project.   Metzner opposed this project because he felt the site was wrong, it being very expensive to build into the lake at taxpayer expense.   There was no guarantee the building material would hold up under water, and he also realized it would obscure the view of Lake Monona from the Capitol.   Metzner fought valiantly against the merger of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with the state college system, having daily conversations with UW President E.B. Fred and successfully defeating the attempt in 1954.             After his service in the legislature, Metzner ran for county chairman of the Republican Party and won, serving two terms.   He then ran for second district chairman of the Republican Party and served two terms.   In 1969 he served as an alternate delegate to the National Republican Convention.   For many years he was a delegate at state party conventions, last attending in 2001.             Metzner was a charter member of Heritage Congregational Church where he served as its first moderator.   He also served on the Board of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches.   He was a member of the State Historical Society and the American Contract Bridge League.   He was a long time member of the Civil War Roundtable, and served on the former Methodist Hospital Board.   He was one of the founders of the former Metropolitan Bank.   In his younger days he taught at the University Extension division.   He was a long time member of the Nakoma Golf Club and the Madison Club, and a former member of the Ironwood Country Club in Palm Desert, California.             He was an active and long time member of the Madison Friends of International Students, becoming friends with numerous foreign students from all over the world.   His closest relationship was with Jenny and David Pan, originally from Taiwan, but now American citizens in Rochester, New York, where they reside with their children, Joyce and Brian.             Mr. Metzner and his wife were inveterate travelers, making twenty-two trips to Europe, and other trips to South America, the South Pacific, the Orient, the Middle East, and various countries of the African continent, including three safaris in Kenya.   In 1994, he and his wife flew around the world on the Concorde, to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.   Metzner had a great interest in genealogy and made five trips to Germany, including several trips behind the ""iron curtain"" to trace his roots.   He was elated when he found the place where his German grandmother was born, now a village in Poland.             Carroll was married for over 64 years to his beloved wife, Peggy (Marjorie), who survives him.   He also leaves a daughter, Attorney Margot Andrea Metzner (Dr. Mark Mandelkern), and three grandchildren, India Aurora, Benjamin Tate, and Seth Tyler Bruce Mandelkern, all of Pacific Palisades, California.   He is further survived by a sister-in-law, Diane Metzner, a nephew, Eric (Jenny and their three sons), and a niece, Lynn Metzner, all of Milwaukee.   He was preceded in death by his son, Bruce Carroll Stokes Metzner, in 1987, and his brother, Robert.   The family thanks Mr. Metzner's caregivers, Diann Danielsen, Aaron Collins, and Tiffany Long; former caregivers, Gail Solberg and Angela Schwenn; and the staff at Attic Angel for their compassionate care.             Private burial will be at Forest Hill Cemetery.   A memorial service in celebration of Carroll's life will be held at Heritage Congregational Church, 3102 Prairie Road, Madison, WI 53719, on Wednesday, December 10, 2008, at 12:30pm, followed by a light lunch.   Memorials may be made to Heritage Church, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (Donor Services, P.O. Box 4072, Pittsfield, MA 01202), or Attic Angel Association (8301 Old Sauk Road, Middleton, WI 53562).   Cress Funeral & Cremation Service, 3610 Speedway Road , Madison , (608)238-3434, www.cressfuneralservice.com