William H. Mortensen

William H. Mortensen was born in 1903, the son of Danish immigrants Karen Petersen Mortensen and John [Jens] L. Mortensen. He graduated from Hartford Public High School in 1922, and studied for two years at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He worked at the Aetna Insurance Company in the 1920s.

Some work for friend Charles F. T. Seaverns, a language teacher at Hartford Public High School, and his wife, Mary Bushnell Hillyer Seaverns, a granddaughter of Reverand Horace Bushnell, led to them offering Mortensen the job of managing director of The Bushnell Memorial in Hartford.

Mortensen was the state senator for Hartford in 1942-1944, and then ran for, and was elected, mayor in 1943, for the 1944-46 term. He was mayor during the tragic Circus Fire of 1944, an event that stayed with him for years. He thought that the fire could have been prevented if the goverment departments had been working more closely with each other. He became one of the main advocates for changing the strong mayor system in Hartford, feeling that the job should have more of a professional manager. He founded the Citizens Charter Committee in 1946, of which Abraham Ribicoff was also a member, and in 1947, the city passed a referendum to adopt a council management system.

William Mortensen stayed on as managing director at The Bushnell for many years after his political career ended, retiring in 1968. Over the years, he was instrumental in bringing many famous names and faces to Hartford. He was always dedicated to making his city and state a better place, at one point belonged to 22 boards and commissions.

William Mortensen's wife Alice passed away in 1983. His second marriage was to Trice Carter on 20 August 1983. He died on 6 October 1990 at his Old Saybrook home, and is buried at Fairview Cemetery in West Hartford, Connecticut.