Bob Hazen

[Charles Parker]

Bob Hazen has passed away.

I can count on both hands the number of people in my life that have impacted me in a positive way and how I admired and looked up to as a very great person.

Bob Hazen was one of those.

I met him in 1977 and continued to bump into him from then on. I am a great admirer.

A memorial service for Bob will be held at 1:00 PM on Saturday, December 20th, in the chapel of Laurel Hill Funeral Home, located at 10127 Plank Rd., Spotsylvania, VA 22553. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Friday December 19 from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM and on Saturday 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM.

The obituary will be in the Wednesday, 12/17 editions of the Washington Post and Washington Times as well as the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star.

[Ann Horsman]

Sad news, Bob's Admin FP class was very good. He was quite a Patriot as well.

[Pat A. Wertheim]

In September, 1991, I was attending a conference of the Southwestern Association of Forensic Scientists (SWAFS) in Plano, Texas. Plano is a suburb of Dallas. I bumped into Joe Maberry and we wandered around the halls a while talking over old times. We wandered into the vendors’ area and were surprised to see Bob Hazen at the Omnichrome booth as the vendor representative. We went over and Bob explained that he had just retired and was doing a few conferences for Omnichrome.

As Joe and Bob and I visited, Bob lamented that he had never met Carl Day, and being in Dallas made him acutely aware of how much he had wanted to meet Mr. Day. Bob explained that just a few weeks before the Kennedy assassination, he had just been promoted from the 10-print files to Latent Prints. The FBI Latent Print Supervisor at the time, the legendary Sebastian Latona, had taken Bob under wing personally to train him. Apparently, Mr. Latona saw great potential in Bob and did not want anything lost by not taking responsibility for Bob’s training himself. Bob considered that quite an honor and an opportunity not to be wasted.

When President Kennedy was assassinated, Carl Day was the senior latent print examiner for Dallas Police Department. He took all of the evidence to process for fingerprints personally. Mr. Day had just started to work on the rifle itself when FBI Agents intruded into the Dallas PD Latent Print Unit and took custody of all of the evidence, including the rifle that had been used to assassinate President Kennedy. Mr. Day had powdered the rifle, but had not completed his examination. Although the FBI at that time lacked any authority or jurisdiction over a presidential assassination, the agents were acting under special orders from the just-sworn-in President Lyndon Baines Johnson. All of the evidence was seized and taken immediately to Washington.

When the evidence arrived at FBI Headquarters, it went straight to Mr. Latona himself for fingerprint examination. The new trainee, Bob Hazen, was privileged to be able to watch the entire case unfold from that first moment as Mr. Latona opened the packages. As Bob was telling Joe and me this story, he expressed that his one great regret in his career was that he had never sat down with Carl Day to discuss the Kennedy assassination and the fingerprint evidence before Mr. Day had passed away.

“Carl’s not dead!” Joe exclaimed. “Would you like me to call him and see if we can drop by his place this evening?”

Of course, Bob was both surprised that Carl Day was still alive and tremendously eager to meet him. Joe made the arrangements and that afternoon as soon as the conference closed for the evening, Bob and I piled into Joe’s car to go meet Carl Day.

We sat at Mr. Day’s dining room table for a couple of hours, Bob and Mr. Day at the sides across from each other, and Joe and me at the ends opposite each other. Joe and I remained silent while we listened to these two pillars of late Twentieth Century fingerprint science discuss the evidence in the Kennedy assassination. Mr. Day had all of his questions answered about what became of the evidence after it left his lab, and Bob had all of his questions answered regarding what had been done before it arrived at FBI Headquarters. Theories about the assassination were tossed back and forth, all with the fingerprints as the main issue around which the discussion revolved.

A rare treat like that is afforded to few people in our science and I felt honored just to sit and listen to that remarkable conversation. One of my personal regrets is that I lacked the foresight to obtain a video camera or even a tape recorder to capture that historic exchange.

Bob Hazen was a great man. Those in our business too recently to have taken training under him missed a great deal, but those of us old enough to have had our major training administered by Bob are much the richer for his dedicated attention.

It’s a sad day. I, for one, shall miss Bob greatly.

[Kasey Wertheim]

From: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008 ... 008/432618
Date published at that location: 12/17/2008
********

Robert J. Hazen

Robert Joseph Hazen, 78, of Spotsylvania County died Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008, at the Potomac Center in Arlington.

Born in Davenport, Iowa, Mr. Hazen was the son of the late Clyde W. Hazen and Norma Goettsch Hazen.

Mr. Hazen was a member of Christ Lutheran Church. He served his country in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and had a distinguished 40-year career at the FBI. He was recognized as one of the most prominent latent fingerprint experts in the world.

Mr. Hazen is survived by his wife of 55 years, Mary Ann Hazen; daughter, Candice Ann Bell and her husband, Dirk; son, Mark Robert Hazen and his wife, Cindy; daughter, Renee Lynn Piper and her husband, Nyal; two grandsons, James C. Thull and Charles S. Thull; brother, Retired Army Col. Donald E. Hazen; and mother-in-law, Anna DePalma.

A funeral will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 20, at Laurel Hill Funeral Home, 10127 Plank Road, Spotsylvania, with Pastor Richard M. Carbaugh officiating. Entombment will follow in the chapel mausoleum at Laurel Hill Memorial Park.

The family will receive friends at the funeral home Friday from 6 to 8 p.m., and Saturday prior to the service from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society in memory of Robert J. Hazen.

Condolences may be sent to the family at laurelhillfu neralhome.com.

[Kasey Wertheim]

From: http://legacy.com/WASHINGTONPOST/GB/Gue ... =121473421 on Dec. 17, 2008

Celebrating a life well lived. We will cherish the memories forever. Condolences to the family of Bob Hazen. He taught so many fingerprint experts like myself to know your craft and strive for excellence. He was Mr. Fingerprints and was respected all over the world. He will be missed.

Jerry P. Edwards (Virginia Beach, VA)

[Kasey Wertheim]

I remember during one of my first IAI conferences as a latent print examiner, Bob visited my poster presentation and offered a lot of support to me for being a young up-and-coming examiner in the discipline. It wasn't based on anything except the fact that I was new to the discipline and was becoming actively involved at an early time in my career. All these years, I have kept the framed picture with Bob from that poster presentation as we smiled together for the camera. I have looked back on it fondly from time to time, and I will continue to do so with the warmest respect Bob deserves as a giant in the latent print discipline.

-Kasey

[SPKasper]

In 1986 I had the opportunity to attend the "Admin" class at Quantico. This was my first contact with Bob. As he paced back and forth on the stage before the new class all I could think of is this is the "Fingerprint Evangelist, Reverend" Robert Hazen and I paraphrase his words as he pointed his finger at the audiance "Fingerprints are the most dynamic form of evidence known, They are unique, permanent, objective and exact……..The results are absolute and final." I submit he was as dynamic as the subject he spoke of and will be missed by all of us in the discipline.

[James Coker]

In 1989, when I attended the Administrative Advanced Latent Fingerprint class at Quantico, Bob was one of my instructors. He was gracious enough to take me and two classmates over one of our weekends to visit the Arlington National Cemetery for one of his "personal" tours. We rode to Arlington in a classic convertible that Bob was restoring (I can't remember the model). When we got out, the last student out (not me) slammed the door, and the window shattered. The look on our faces was one of utter horror....but Bob never missed a beat. He treated us to one of the most memorable, and historic, afternoons that I ever spent in the DC area. Bob will be missed.

Jim Coker
Captain
Hoover Police Department, AL
FBI NA 224

[Pat A. Wertheim]

We rode to Arlington in a classic convertible that Bob was restoring (I can't remember the model).

If that was the car Bob took a few of us from my Admin class around DC in, it was about a 1969 fire engine red Ford convertible, Galaxie 500 I believe. Huge old battleship of a car, but Bob was sure proud of it! Bright, bright red, shiney and polished, just like new. Bob took three of us students and chauffeured us around DC with the top down. What a treat! He badged us into the White House for a private tour, took us to Arlington, and treated us like family.

[Marykay Hunt]

I just read the tribute and posts on Mr. Bob Hazen and I just wanted to pay my respects to him also. I was also in that 1989 class with Jim, and can only 100% agree with everything that he and SPKasper both posted about Mr. Hazen. To say he was dynamic is a huge understatement. He was definitely awe inspiring to listen to and totally opened my eyes to the excitement of fingerprints!! And what a great tribute to him in this weeks detail. The only time I met him was at the Admin. class in 1989, but I never did forget his talk. I will look forward to speaking to him again someday....up in heaven!!

[stephenramroop]

Bob Hazen was a friend to all. I am so sorry to learn of his passing.
Bob was an inspiration to me from our very first meeting at an IAI Conference in Orlando, Florida in 1983. This friendship continued from there on. I cherish the time that he spent with us in Trinidad and Tobago and the knowledge gained from this icon. He was one of the best!
The fingerprint family and the IAI has lost a great stalwart. May his prints forever be kept together with others who have given so much to us so we will be reminded of their contribution in this dynamic field of personal identification.

Stephen Ramroop
Trinidad and Tobago