Memorial services for Charles Adams Corcoran of rural Dallas County, will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, February 18, 2012, at St. John the Apostle Catholic Church, 720 Orchard Hills Drive, in Norwalk, Iowa. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, February 16, 2012, at the church.

Known as Charlie to his family, Corky to his sisters and Chuck to everyone else, Chuck Corcoran died February 11, 2012, at Mercy Hospice in Johnston following a long illness.

He was born January 22, 1942, in Evanston, Ill., the son of Charles Robert and Ruth Finnegan Corcoran. He grew up in Huntington, Long Island, and attended college at Hofstra University and the University of Kansas where he studied journalism. He was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves.

In April 1967 he married Judith Kathryn Farrell when both were reporters for the Topeka, Kan., Capital-Journal and married between afternoon deadlines. In 1970 he became managing editor of the Hannibal, Mo., Courier-Post and in late 1973 moved to Des Moines as a reporter for The Des Moines Register and Tribune where he covered law enforcement and the court system.

After the Tribune’s closing in 1982 he moved into consumer electronics, working for Commtron, Atari and Racom before returning to his first love, journalism, as communications director of the Iowa State Bar Association in 1997. He retired from the Bar in 2005.

His greatest achievement was his two children, Megan Kathryn Corcoran, and Sean Finnegan Corcoran.

He was a member of St. John the Apostle Catholic Church where he was a lay reader, Eucharistic minister and member of the Apostle Choir. He was a 4th Degree member of the Knights of Columbus Pope John Paul II Assembly 3030.

Chuck was a long time amateur radio hobbyist with the advanced class license of KD9UD. He was active in the Des Moines Radio Amateurs Assn. and related ham organizations, leading to a cluttered garage and basement “ham shack.” He was an early adopter of consumer electronics technology and a tutor for family and friends.

He is survived by his wife Judy; daughter Meg Corcoran of Minneapolis with her fiancé Austin Gullixson; son Sean Corcoran and his wife Sonja Anderson of St. Louis Park, Minn.; four sisters: Mary (Frank) Ehmann of Winnetka, Ill., Jean (Paul) Schott of Christiansburg, Va.; Ruth Ann Howley of Jackson, N.J., and Lu Buergers of East Quogue, N.Y., and brother-in-law Stephen (Judy) Farrell of Overland Park, Kan.; and one very devoted cat Murphy.

Heartfelt appreciation from the family to the indomitable Dr. Carol Horner, D.O.; neurologist Dr. Heike Schmolck, M.D., the nurses and staff of Mercy 6N Neurology, the Mercy NeuroTrauma ICU and Mercy Hospice and Arbor Springs as well as the parishioners of St. John the Apostle, neighbors in Greenbrier and Judy’s teammates at Wells Fargo.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the building fund at St. John the Apostle Catholic Church in Norwalk, Iowa, or the Iowa State Bar Foundation in Des Moines.