Kenneth J. Sturzenacker

Kenneth J. Sturzenacker, 79, of North Catasauqua, PA, died on November 21, 2025, at the Inpatient Rehabilitation Center of Lehigh Valley Hospital–Muhlenberg, six weeks short of his eightieth birthday.

Ken was the son of the late Rev. Edwin W. and Dorothy (Lutz) Sturzenacker. He is survived by two younger sisters: Dorothy Huff, with husband Rev. James E. Huff, of Kalispell, MT, and Gloria Sturzenacker, his housemate and caregiver, whose days were brightened by Ken's ready humor, cheerfulness, and effusive gratitude.

Born in Brooklyn, growing up Ken also lived in Philadelphia; Ozone Park in Queens, NY; Clarksboro, NJ (where he was a Boy Scout, took piano lessons, and played in Little League); and Quincy, MA, as his father served churches in each. At Quincy High School (Class of 1963), he sang in the chapel choir, ran cross country, and belonged to Key Club. He credited English teacher Miss Goudey with fostering his writing talent; communications would become, in various manifestations, the thread of his career.

At Albright College in Reading, PA, he worked at the student radio station and graduated in 1967 with a bachelor's degree in economics. As his family moved to Lansdale, PA, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was assigned as station manager of the Army's radio station in Seoul, Korea. Back stateside, he trained in Alaska for winter survival and completed the Army's newspaper editor and photography schools. He would later come to vehemently oppose war on both religious and libertarian grounds.

After the Army, Ken earned a master's degree in journalism, with a minor in urban studies and urban statistics, at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Upon graduation in 1972, he became a news producer at WBBM-TV, the CBS owned-and-operated station in Chicago, where he worked for six years. Various pieces he produced were picked up by Walter Cronkite's CBS Evening News. As a shop steward, Ken participated in Writers Guild negotiations in New York City.

Ken embraced the principle that every person has the right to live as they see fit, as long as they don't initiate force or fraud against others. Moving into political organizing, he managed local, state, and national campaigns for Libertarian Party candidates, and became state party chairman, successively, in Illinois, Arizona, and Pennsylvania, expanding membership enrollment and organizing conferences.

During those years, Ken earned an Arizona real estate license and was a sales associate with Coldwell Banker in Scottsdale, AZ. After moving to be closer to his parents, who had retired to the Lehigh Valley, he worked as a newswriter for WFMZ Channel 69 News in Allentown, PA; as special promotions coordinator for the Allentown Morning Call for nine years, and as a financial advisor with Waddell & Reed for eleven years. He volunteered in fundraising for the United Way, was active in the Chamber of Commerce, and ushered at Bethany United Methodist and Faith Evangelical Free Churches. He traveled in several states to serve as a community judge at speech and debate tournaments.

Ken was a frequent donor at the Miller-Keystone Blood Center, for a total of thirty-six gallons of blood products. He was his mother's caregiver the last eleven years of her life. With a continuing interest in news and real estate, Ken was a frequent presence at Whitehall Township Public Library and a voracious reader of both nonfiction and fiction, particularly on American history, national security, astronomy, and extreme environments.

Arrangements were handled by Huff & Lakjer Funeral Home in Lansdale, PA. Burial was at Whitemarsh Memorial Park in Ambler.