Submitted by: Dan Rich

Martin Braunsdorf

Aug. 14, 1945 – July 8, 1974

South Bend Tribune 7-10-1974

A former South Bend resident, Martin L. Braunsdorf, 28, was shot and killed about 9:50 p.m. Monday in Atlanta, where he was residing. Atlanta police said Braunsdorf was shot in the chest as the result of an argument with another man in the Sports Den, a tavern on the city’s northwest side.

The victim was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Braunsdorf, Jr., 2149 Beverly Pl.  The elder Braunsdorf is president of Braunsdorf’s, Inc., local plumbing and heating contractors.

A suspect, Howard W. Coats, 29, also of Atlanta, has been formally charged in Atlanta Municipal Court with murder and is being held by police. During an argument between the two men, Braunsdorf was believed to have fired a single shot with his handgun but missed Coats, according to police.  Witnesses told police Coats then shot Braunsdorf. Braunsdorf was pronounced dead on arrival at an Atlanta hospital.

Braunsdorf was a landscape foreman for the Perimeter Mall, Atlanta.  Born Aug. 14, 1945, he had lived in Atlanta a year.  His wife, the former Patricia Lee Kayman, survives.  Also surviving, in addition to his parents, are his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Chester Bradley of South Bend; a brother, John of South Bend, and a sister, Mrs. Kathleen Dvorak of La Jolla, Calif.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday in St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Norcross, Ga.  Rev. Felix Mendez of St. Patrick’s Church will officiate.  Burial will be in White Chapel Memorial Gardens, Duluth, Ga.  A rosary will be recited at 8 p.m. today in the R.T. Patterson Funeral Home, Norcross.