Obituaries

Bennett Willis Jr.Justice Department Official

Bennett Willis Jr., 90, a retired Justice Department lawyer and director of its Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, died Nov. 16 at Inova Fairfax Hospital after a heart attack.

Mr. Willis began his federal career in the early 1940s as an FBI special agent in counterintelligence based in New York City. He joined the Justice Department in the 1950s as a trial lawyer and later was chief of the management office. He retired in the late 1970s.

On one Justice Department assignment in the late 1950s, he chaired an inter-agency committee on internal security that was part of the National Security Council.

In retirement, he briefly worked as a real estate agent in Northern Virginia. He also submitted amusing anecdotes and published gaffes to newspapers and magazines.

Mr. Willis was born in New York and raised in Washington. He was a graduate of Western High School in the District and George Washington University's law school.

His memberships included the Fairfax County Crime Commission and the United World Federalists, an organization advocating international cooperation.

He was a former board member of the Boys Clubs of Washington and a charter member of the World Peace Through Law Center. He was a delegate to the law center's 1967 world conference in Geneva.

Last year, he moved to the Greenspring Village retirement community in Springfield from his longtime home in McLean.

Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Jane Boland Willis of Springfield; and a son, James B. Willis of McLean.

Eugene Dennis Corkery Sr.USIA Officer

Eugene Dennis Corkery Sr., 85, a former U.S. Information Agency officer, died of aortic stenosis Oct. 31 at his Bethesda home.

Mr. Corkery worked for the USIA for 27 years, and his last position was deputy director of the U.S. Pavilion in Poznan, Poland. After his retirement in 1980, he became president of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase chapter of what was then the National Association of Retired Federal Employees, a job he held until 1990.

Born in Binghamton, N.Y., to Irish immigrant parents, Mr. Corkery joined the Marine Corps in 1940. He served during World War II in the invasion of Tinian in the Marshall Islands and landed at Guadalcanal as well. After his discharge in 1947, Mr. Corkery received a bachelor's degree in international relations from American University.