Albert Fortin, American Legion leader

Albert Leonard Fortin of Lakeland, Fla., a Ridgefielder in his youth and a leader in the American Legion, died Thursday, March 29, at Lakeland Regional Hospital. He was 80 years old and the husband of Grace R. Wick Fortin.
A native of Lincoln, Maine, on April 17, 1920, Mr. Fortin came to Ridgefield as a boy and graduated from Ridgefield High School. He was a sergeant in the Army in Europe during World War II and an officer in the reserves for many years. As a young man, he had worked for the Ridgefield Five and Ten.
After his marriage to Grace Wick of Ridgefield, a classmate at Ridgefield High School, just 50 years ago this month, he moved to Stamford where he worked for Sears, Roebuck and Company. He later became a buyer for Jacobs Engineering Group. He moved from Darien to Florida in 1970.
He was a member of the Reserve Officers Association, a past comander of an American Legion Post, and a member of the National Executive Committee of the American Legion.
A brother was longtime Ridgefielder Richard J. Fortin, who died in 1995.
Besides his wife, his survivors include two sons, Albert L. Fortin Jr. and Philip W. Fortin, both of Lakeland; a brother, Patrick Fortin of Wilton; a sister, Alice Jane Donahue of Danbury; as well as four sons, a sister, a grandson, two stepgrandchildren, and one stepgreat-grandchild.
Contributions in his memory may be made to the Sheltered Workshop of Polk County, Columbus, FL.