Kenneth Lee Corazza

KENNETH LEE CORAZZA
1942 – 2020

Much-loved brother, uncle, and friend
Respected pharmacist, horseman, and community leader
Kenneth Corazza died Tuesday, December 15, 2020 of natural causes.

Ken was the owner of The Medicine Chest Pharmacy and a member of the New Mexico State Racing Commission. Those two achievements demonstrate his dual passions: he practiced pharmacy in his beloved north valley for 57 years after graduating from the UNM College of Pharmacy; and he loved, owned, bred, and raced thoroughbred horses.

His work in many ways was his life, and pharmacy gave him the gift of compassion for the plight of the people who passed through his doors over the years. He was rewarded, in turn, with many friendships and opportunities to see and do things he would otherwise not have experienced.

As a businessman he was one of the founding members of The Regent Drug Group of New Mexico, a statewide advertising and buying group for independent pharmacies; his community outreach included serving on a hospice board, the New Futures School Board for ten years, community health fairs, and the New Mexico Poison Control Board, among many others. He received numerous awards and was especially proud of the UNM College of Pharmacy Outstanding Alumni Award, as well as his service as a Captain in the New Mexico Air National Guard.

He believed that his community was not only his pharmacy, but his city and state, and that no life is lived without a series of debts to parents and mentors encountered along the path. He tried in his own way through service and through quite remarkable care and kindness to countless people to repay those debts. New Mexico has lost one of its most faithful sons.

He is survived by two sisters, Carol Bass (Clarence) and Cheryl Castonguay; nephew, Matthew Bass; and niece, Renae Castonguay Duran; his Medicine Chest family, and a host of dear friends and colleagues such as the Cathe Collard family, the Chris Harlacker family, the Matthew Rounseville family, the Pat Birmingham family, the Leonard family, the Steve Fidel family, customers, and people whose lives he touched and who loved him. He will be missed.

Honorary pallbearers: Debbie Allison, Patrick Birmingham, John Castillo, Renae Castonguay, Wilford Chavez, Steve Fidel, John Heaton, Donald Leonard, Dr. Matthew Rounseville

Due to Covid-19 restrictions a Private Service for immediate family will be held on Wednesday, December 30, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. Interment will follow at Mount Calvary Cemetery. Friends may stream the service via frenchfunerals.com.

Friends may stream the service via frenchfunerals.com for a 90 day period.  In lieu of flowers please make a memorial donation of your choice.