Longtime Sarasota attorney, pioneer in condo law dies at 91

William Getzen, a longtime Sarasota attorney and resident, died peacefully Tuesday morning just hours after watching his favorite documentary, Ken Burns’ “Baseball,” on Monday night. 

He was 91.

Born May 9, 1932, in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, he arrived in Sarasota at 27, a young attorney hired by the law firm of Williams Parker in 1959. The firm was experiencing a rapidly growing workload as legal representative to Arvida Corp. and its development of former John Ringling holdings on Bird, Lido and Longboat keys. Getzen earned his law degree at the University of Illinois in 1959 and was admitted to the Florida Bar that same year.