I just learned of Jerry's passing, and am saddened. The below tributes reflect the man I briefly knew as my boss at Bankers Trust. Ivanka, I think you may have interviewed for the Rep job and Jerry wisely convinced you he had better opportunities for you! He was a good leader. I remember a Vienna offsite and many a phone call from London to Prague. To his daughters Lili and Katya, if either of you ever need an introduction to someone in the HR learning field, let me know. Your father lives on.

Daddy- you were the best dad I could possibly ever imagine having and as it comes to 3 months after your death, I am realizing how much I you have effected my life positively. You were my best friend in the whole wide world and my funny dad. I miss you more and more everyday. I love you daddy so so much, I hope someday we will be together again soon. I love you.

I just learnt the sad news - completely shocked. Jerry was my boss at Bankers Trust, but more than that ,became a friend . Always human, caring for the others, with a great sense of humour- we had some closing lunches still in the memory of our clients ! We still stayed in touch despite the distance and all his friends are sad these days to have lost an incredible character, larger than life , solid and loyal . All my deep and sincere condolences to his family .

Dear Ivanka, Katya, Lili, Frank and Eva Becvar and the entire Kowalski family, It is with deep sadness that I read about the untimely death of Ivanka's dear husand Jerry. This is of course, shocking news, and I am deeply touched by the loss and grief that all of you must be feeling! Our sincere condolences go out to all of you and the extended family. Please know that you are in our prayers and that we are grieving along with you! May Jerry Rest In Peace and know that his fine legacy will be carried on by his wife and children. Peace be with all of you. Our hearts are breaking right along with all of yours. God Bless, Liz and Fred Zarrilli, Susan Chrien and the Chrien Family.

Jerry—-I can hear your deep voice charming the angels, with a wink and your great smile. I won’t be surprised to see feathers from heaven as they flutter their wings and succumb to your charms. Jerry, I will love you for all time.

Jerry - My memory of you from grade school is a very smart and humorous guy, who was a loyal and charming friend. I've been in awe of your accomplishments and all I can say to your life cut short is that God must need your talent in the afterlife. I know you will watch over all those who mean so much to you. To Jerry's beautiful family-- Follow his example, and your life will be well lived. Take solace in his character and keep him in your heart and all will be well. May God bless you and make this burden light.

I am so sorry to hear of Jerry leaving this world so soon. Jerry interviewed me for Bankers Trust and as others here was also my first boss. I for one always kept a fond memory of Jerry. After all he gave me my first bottle of Dom Perignon for deal of the week. Not easy to seem smart and low key about it all. Actually a real markets person and a real dealmaker. And actually always seemed to be enjoying himself. Don't know if that habit of keeping is watch ahead by many hours so he could be ahead of his time finally caught up with him. He is already missed.

Jerry had style, grace, humility, apart from being immensely capable and competent, and was a CEO I really admired. I worked at OPK Biotech where he was a great CEO and led the company through some very difficult times. He was very approachable and treated everyone with great respect. I still remember the July 4th parties he organized in the parking lot. My deepest condolences to his family. May his soul rest in peace.

Jerry was a larger than life character and fittingly, the word I most associate with him is 'great'. He was great in size, great in strength, great in courage, great in charm, great in compassion and great in humour. But he always remained very human and stayed a man of the people. He loved to help his friends - which he always did without a second thought and he also continually reached out to help disadvantaged people wherever he could. When I first met him, I was a young banker and he was already a stellar figure in our company. He impressed me with his extraordinary confidence and self-belief and yet he was always passionate about team-building and group success. For us more junior bankers, he was someone we looked up to and he was a font of practical life-style advice. For example, I remember Jerry warning me of the dangers of taking skinny girls out to dinner – he said, “they always end up eating your French fries!” Jerry changed my life for the better. And I can honestly say that I’ve never met a person with such a disparate range of amazing talents: he was a powerful athlete, an intellectual prodigy, a charismatic leader and a natural communicator. In short, he was a truly exceptional human being who made a deep impression on anyone who got to know him. And those of us who did get to know him, will always miss him. God bless you Jerry and your wonderful family, whom you so adored. Michael

When my best friend Keith dragged me to fraternity rush 40 years ago, it was my great good fortune to meet his older brother. Jerry had an obvious charisma, an XL barrel chest stretching at the seams of a Medium Polo shirt, a booming voice, a big laugh that filled the room. Immediately and hugely likable. I signed up with Keith that night. Later, Jerry would help me get my first real job at Procter & Gamble. He would help me adjust to the big city of Chicago. In 1985, he invited me to share the rent at 2111 N. Kenmore with another talented De La Salle grad, Ron Gostek. The ensuing 2 years were immensely entertaining and educational. During that time, my learning was only exceeded by my laughter. Here are just a fraction of the things I learned from, or about, Jerry. - How to drink coffee at work. My first day in the office at P&G, as I added cream and sugar to my coffee, Jerry asked... “Are we drinking coffee or candy?” - How to use a 70 pound black Labrador Retriever as a throw blanket. - The fun of driving a DeLorean. Yes, the fact that 26-year old Jerry bought a DeLorean (before “Back to the Future”) was just...Jerry. - The impact of the grand romantic gesture. Don’t ever skimp on cost or drama when it comes to impressing your future wife...or your Mom. - How to appear simultaneously full of yourself...while fully laughing at yourself. Thank you, Jerry, for living a full and joyful life and sharing it with your family and friends...like me.

Every prominent memory of mine from La Salle includes Jerry. He was the strongest force in our class of ‘76 solar system; we orbited near him and around each other through his gravitational pull. Jerry was joy in human form, readily sharing his gifts of high spirit and zest. The memories have sadder tones now but remain colorful, and oh-so Jerry…His Student Council campaign signs we put up in the La Salle hallways, realizing too late that “Vote for Big Jer” could so easily be adulterated by a single “k”…Driving in a packed car en route to Lexington, stopping at Burger King, where Jerry ordered four Whoppers and then told us - as he wolfed through his third - that “these things give me gas”… The amazed look on the face of my Italian-only-speaking grandmother while Jerry sang to her in his best Elvis, wearing his leopard-print tank top… DiRita-Kowalski pizza and Reuben dinners after games at Softball City…the gorgeous ‘stache he wore as a groomsman in our wedding. In fact, just two men stood behind me as I pledged my lifelong commitment to Kathy: Jerry and Larry, my two brothers from the class of ’76. Jerry forged a remarkable path through a meaningful, purposeful life, with a wife and two beautiful daughters he adored. Along with friends upon friends from every step of his path, all of whom feel loss today beyond description. A testament to his loving, grounded family - Mr. Kowalski, Aunt Carol, wonderful Keith and Kevin, with whom we mourn so deeply now - is that, as his world expanded so far beyond Detroit, the radiant, caring, joyful East Side boy we loved in high school was always still there.  Requiescat in Pace Jerry. God blessed us with you, and may He bless your soul in eternity.

“He was a man, take him for all in all. I shall not look upon his like again. “ In 1972, my brother Vic and I learned that we had a third twin. They called him Jerry. He somehow had Polish, not Italian, ancestry. In just about every other respect he was our brother, as he was to so many of us in DLS ’76, U of M ’80, and in the many other circles to which Jerry was the energy-giving center throughout his consequential life. My first impression of Jerry also was the last time I ever saw him in a moment of doubt: Eighth graders from Catholic schools around Detroit’s east side were taking the high school entrance exam in a classroom at De La Salle (the very room in which many of us would be sitting a few years later getting slapped around by Brother Louis). Some guy threw up all over his exam. Commotion ensued, but we got through it. A year later we were enrolled at Conner and Glenfield and getting to know each other. Jerry allowed that he might have been THAT guy. He was clear on one thing: It was because he hadn’t eaten breakfast. It had nothing – NOTHING – to do with being nervous. We…he…never looked back. Those of us who were blessed to begin early orbits around Planet Jerry understand – even after nearly a half century -- that we will never know his equal. It isn’t that Jerry was so smart, but he was. And he made honors and Advance Placement and college look easy (aside from that vomiting thing). It’s not that he was a fearless jock; but while the rest of us duffers were hacking away at the traditional intramural baseball/basketball/football, Jerry chose varsity pole vaulting. It’s just that in everything he did…and in the things he chose to do in the first place….Jerry was determined to be a standout by standing out. He was equally determined to bring us all along for the ride…to admire and cheer him on, for sure. But also so that he could be sure we had the chance to find the same crazy fun and rewards he was after. It isn’t that he took the path less traveled – in so many ways, he did just that – but he wanted us to know he planned to take life on a wild joyride and it was really important to him that we went along. What else did that beat up white/bondo minivan say than: “Climb aboard and hold on for dear life!!” What a ride, and what a dear life he lived. The biggest of big brothers to Keith and Kevin. I am so sorry for your loss. A beloved friend to his De La Salle brethren, to his fellow Wolverines, and to so many others across several continents. Beloved golden child to Mr. Kowalski and to Aunt Carol. We are forever united in our love for your son, and our shared grief that he left us too soon. And dearest of all, his own three bright stars whom he adored and adored him back. Our hearts break for you, Ivanka, Katya, and Lillie. May God ease your pain with the certainty that he has welcomed Jerry into the arms of Jesus. I love you, Jerry Kowalski. St John Baptist De La Salle, Pray for us. Live Jesus in our hearts forever.

Like so many others, I was utterly shocked and deeply saddened when I heard about Jerry's untimely passing. Although we hadn't seen each other in years, hearing about Jerry always brought a huge smile to my face. He was a great friend, a mentor at Bankers Trust ( my first Wall St job), and an all around great guy who really cared about people and was larger than life, in every way. I cannot imagine the hole this has left in the hearts of his family and close friends; my deepest condolences.

Jerry and I shared a room at the world renown Zeta Psi Fraternity back in the Feudal Era at UM best as I can recall. We saw his potential way before Michigamua and Hemoglobin Oxygen Therapeutics as we elected him to be an officer of the Frat. Although I have many great memories of Jerry, one of my favorites was Rick's Bar after Jerry's initiation into Michigamua. My mind says our President Dennis Murphy wrote this song so my apologies if proper credit was not given. Michigamua Braves we are; Drink em up at ole Rick's Bar; Michigamua Braves you bet; Throw em up on ole carpet. Enjoy your new adventures Brother with your found family, friends and braves.

I heard with utter bafflement and shock the news of Jerry's passing. It is beyond cruel that a life so full could be cut short. Jerry was one of the smartest individuals that I worked with at Bankers Trust. He was instrumental in my hiring and never failed to provide encouragement. I will never forget what I learned from Jerry. Just listening to his sales calls and the way he managed clients was revelatory. It is never easy to completely switch fields from Finance to Biotech like Jerry did. But, he had the intellectual band width and commercial acumen to pull this off. My deepest condolences to his immediate and extended family. May his soul rest in peace.

Dear Jerry ,  I am so sad. As I write this, my eyes are tearing. I know that if you were here, you would put your arm around my shoulder and reassure me that it’s OK to cry; men get hay fever.  I can’t be in Detroit today because my 10 year-old son, Jake, is playing golf in the European Championships in Scotland. I’m sad you never met him. He’s so much like you. He’s a natural leader with a magnetic personality; people want to be around him. And he’s stubborn. We live in Spain now, and instead of learning Spanish, he’s decided to just teach everyone else English. He’s good looking (though maybe not quite as good looking as he thinks) but most importantly, he’s a good person. I wish he could have seen the way you treated the people that others sometimes forget - the office cleaners, the security guards, the newspaper sellers - with respect, kindness and affection.  I’m sad because I know we would have laughed together today. Seeing Jake hit a spectacular golf shot to within three feet of the hole, I know you would have said two things. First, “Well done” and next “Now let me have the club. I’ll show you how it’s really done”. And you didn’t even play golf! But your energy, your enthusiasm and your sheer strength of will would have convinced us that you could do it. And you probably would have!  I am sad, Jerry, because you were my friend for more than 30 years and I miss you.  Love,  JT

I am very sad to hear about Jerry. I got to know him his senior year at DeLaSalle, when I was assisting Br. Malachy Biller and Joan Mosner with the school musicals. Jerry played General Richard Henry Lee in “1776,” performing a loud, lively song & dance routine – typecasting, obviously – along with Ben Franklin and John Adams (the latter played by his great friend Ron Gostek). It was apparent even back then that Jerry was a special person, and the wonderful adventures he’s had since have surely proven this so. The last time I saw him was in the late 1980s, when I ran into him on a flight to Chicago – and that evening I met up with him and Gostek on Division St. for what I recall was a very fun night. I reconnected with Jerry on Facebook just awhile back, we exchanged a few messages, and I was happy for him and his life with Ivanka, Katya and Lili. I am so sorry for them, for his family, and for his many great friends.

Stunned and shocked by the sudden loss. Jerry brought me in banking and was my first mentor. He was a truly special person with huge heart, full of life and grace. I am so honored to have worked for him and also to know him. Rest in peace... Your memory will always stay in my heart...

Jerry was a very good man. All accolades apply. I consider it a privilege to have known him. He will be missed.

I met Jerry through my Brother-From-Another-Mother Ron Gostek. Ron and Jerry grew up together. At the time we met Ron, he was living with a group of ex-pat Michigan guys all together in Lincoln Park. Even though we were new friends, Jerry, Ron, Smitty, Dan, and everyone else we met from Michigan treated my brother John and I like old friends. Ron was surely the soul of that group. Jerry was the heart. He was bigger than life. Its an oft used description but the only one that could be used to describe Jerry. He was so much fun to be around. He was supremely generous; if you tried to pick up a tab when he was at the table you might lose a digit. Although Jerry was working-class, he was also high-class. He was a sophisticated man who was as much at home talking about fine cigars as he was playing basketball. Only Jerry could make a crowded cab ride home memorable. I did not get to see or talk to Jerry as much as I would have liked after he started working in Eastern Europe. No matter how much time passed between visits, when we did see each other, Jerry always made me feel like it was just yesterday that we were last together. I have so many great Jerry stories; each one brings a smile to my face. Like the time he confessed to having the "Athletes Curse". Don't ask.....How sad that I won't be able to repeat these stories now without a tear in my eye. How sad that my own son's will never get to create memories with "Big Jerry". God Bless you my friend. God Bless your Wife and beautiful Daughters. God Bless your dear Mother. God Bless Kevin, Keith and their families. And all your friends, that now suddenly have a big hole in their hearts from your passing. Love you Jerry.

Jerry was such a gracious person, even as a young boy. Jerry's brother Keith and I grew up friends at St. Veronica grade school and DeLaSalle Collegiate High School. We played a lot of sports together (especially baseball) and spent a lot of time just hanging out on the streets of East Detroit. It was a great place and time to grow up. Keith, and I were choirboys in the St. Veronica Boys Choir, with Jerry a class or two ahead. I'm sure this factoid will elicit a few reader chuckles and expressions of disbelief, imagining us piously singing in three-part harmony hymns and songs from masters like Beethoven and Bach. But it's true! Each year, at the end of summer, the Choir would hold "Choir Camp". It was something of a boot camp as we would spend a week of intense training as a precursor to the upcoming choir season. It was truly a camp, as we spent a week together with our director and other volunteers and older students at a remote, rural site, rehearsing and getting our voices in shape for the upcoming season. In addition to the choral work, the camp always offered an array of fun activities like swimming, archery, sports, fishing, nightly camp fires, questionable camp food, staying up too late, and the like. It was a total blast! In the summer prior to sixth grade the camp was held in a recently decommissioned seminary in Memphis, MI, about 45 miles north of Detroit. (That would put me at about 11 years old - still a soprano!) The seminary had a small lake for swimming. On something of a dare, a number of boys decided to swim the length of the lake. Driven more by peer pressure than swimming prowess, I joined in the "fun." As I reached the halfway point of the lake, I realized I could not make the trek. I tried to swim on my back, but choked on some water, and panic set in. Convinced I was drowning, I gasped and yelled for help, and a fellow swimmer came up to me.  It was Jerry. He calmly helped me safely reach the mucky shore. Embarrassed as much as scared, I thanked him. Jerry simply made sure I was OK and just swam away. Assuming he would go on to brag about how he saved me, I was sure that I would be teased mercilessly. But nothing came about from the incident as Jerry literally made no mention to anyone.  That's what Jerry was about (even at that young age), and, quite frankly, what the Kowalskis are about. I'm blessed to have known them, and I pray for the Kowalskis God's blessings.

I am so saddened and sorry to lose Jerry from our world. But know that he is already making a huge difference, as a Leader and Best, in the next world, in heaven, with our God and our Lord, Jesus Christ. So many fond memories of Jerry at U of M and Zeta Psi Fraternity. I looked up to and respected Jerry so much. Likewise, to Keith, his brother. Prayers to all of you. Sincerely, Steve (and Kris) Spicer

Jerry and I covered Eastern Europe at Bankers Trust together and besides doing good business we enjoyed ourselves discovering the emerging countries. I remember interviewing Ivanka at Bankers Trust and telling Jerry that I just interviewed his future wife. Sorry to see you leave us. Rest in Piece

I served with Jerry's brother Keith and had the great honor of meeting him several times. Grace, humor and joy are the words that best express being in Jerry's presence. Jerry made all who were around him feel better and I will miss his wit, wisdom and spirit. Cora and I send our most sincere condolences to all the Kowalski family. And, we thank Mrs. Kowalski for raising such wonderful men. God bless you all. Rest in Peace Jerry. You were one of the great ones gone too soon.

Jerry was a respected, admired, friendly and model colleague at Bankers Trust and then at CSFB. He was a friend whom I saw way too infrequently but always with great pleasure and as if we had last met a few days previously. He leaves a big hole and incredible sadness but many found memories. Jerry was bigger than life. My deepest and sincerest condolences to his wife and daughters whom he loved so dearly.

Rest in peace Jerry . Your memory will glow warm in the hearts of your nearest and give them strength . Your girls will have such fond memories of an adoring father and husband .

I had the pleasure of getting to know Jerry as a part of the International School of Prague community (as I had the great fortune to be a teacher of his eldest daughter, Katya), as well as know him as a part of the larger expatriate community in the city. My father is from Detroit/my parents went to the University of Michigan, so I very much enjoyed speaking to him about both of our families and their similar interests. He epitomized the word "gregarious:" every time I was in contact with him I ended up having a smile on my face. My heart goes out to his family...take as good care as you can...

Gerald R. Kowalski, Jerry, Jer, Chase’em Bear Up Tree Kowalski, Alpha Zeta Psi, Big Jer, MY JERRY… An ebullient extrovert who rarely bared his true inner self. He would be intimate often, but almost always when we needed to be assured or validated. A man truly generous to a fault, hopelessly in love with life, exuding pure joy, beaming with self-confidence, rakishly handsome, and blessed with charisma, intelligence, talent and Herculean strength - enough to carry him to the 1976 Olympic trials for the Decathlon. Or so I have been told. By Jerry. I still see his javelin propped in the corner of his NYC apartment and alternately shudder and laugh to think of him actually prancing through Strawberry Fields, about to launch it across Central Park on a summer morning.  Jerry abhorred pompous bullies, and I know we have all witnessed him coming to the rescue in one way or another of someone in need. I am also sure that there were many, many more times that nobody was present to witness Jerry's random acts of kindness, spreading joy and love with no expectation of return. A hugely successful, somewhat vain man with a not-the-least-bit needed self-created heroic persona who could, and would laugh so heartily with you at himself and his foibles until all bellies ached. BIG Jer once confided to me (and most likely all of you) that it was impossible for him to write in any other way save iambic pentameter – otherwise referred to as Heroic Couplet.  I could share many more humorous and joyful stories about your husband, Ivanka; your father Katya and Lillie; YOUR Jerry, Mrs. Kowalski; your brother, Keith and Kevin – and Duff; your cousin, Carol; and OUR beloved and dear friend. But time flies, and it’s later than we think.  As Father Richard Rohr teaches: “If we are honest, we acknowledge that we are dying throughout our life, and this is what we learn if we are attentive: grace is found at the depths and in the death of everything.” May God bestow His infinite Mercy and mend our broken hearts with His unimaginable Grace, and the Holy Spirit fill our souls with the same heavenly joy at Jerry’s homecoming.  St John the Baptist de La Salle, pray for us. Live Jesus in our hearts, forever.

Jerry was one friends at De La Salle. He was on the track team with me.A really awesome man! My prayers go out to him and his family. Jerry may you rest in glorious peace!

I am simply stunned at Jerry's passing. I am speechless. I remember him so vividly in the DLS musicals, his best being in 1776. He was charismatic and jubilant in every situation. He lived the DLS lifestyle in every way possible. I know he reached to me recently when my daughter was contemplating on being in Prague. He was super offering so much advice. I am saddened for his beautiful young daughters who he leaves behind and his wife. I pray for them and mostly his mom who was recently ill. Condolences to all the Kowalski's. One great family.

I am stunned by the loss of Jerry. Jerry was a great and caring man. I am honored to have worked for him but also to know him. His passing is a great loss to many and I give my deepest sympathies to his family. Jerry was a great leader but also had a heart for all that worked for him. I will surely miss him. Jerry may you rest in peace. May your family be blessed as I am sure you will look over them. God Bless you Jerry and your family.

It is almost impossible for me to think about Jerry without also thinking of his friend Ron Gostek. They were a perfect, symbiotic relationship of performer and audience with the latter occasionally adding commentary like a Greek chorus. Together they were of great support to me during major transitions in life.  The first being upon my return to DLS senior year when I joined the track team. So successful were we in our specialties: Jerry - Pole Vault, Ron – High Jump, Me – Discus that a friendly competition broke out to see who could contribute the most points to our team’s success. Ron presciently observed that it would be easier for me to throw the disc a little further than for Jerry to get himself a little further off the ground - as his “massive arms” would likely pull him back to earth quicker than the smaller discus would fall. Next stop was the University of Michigan where we pursued different interests, but always stayed in touch and broadened each other’s worlds through meeting each other’s friends, especially the colorful characters that would occasionally visit from Detroit. He, Ron and I later became room-mates junior year, and Jerry performed a life-changing service as a matchmaker helping me pursue a playing-hard-to-get Ukrainian girl on his squad. I liked to think this experience later served him as he pursued his own eastern European beauty. Jerry was also kind enough to visit as my quixotic football career often had me in lonely and distant locations. Most notable were his heading a delegation to Green Bay for a Halloween party early in my career ('nuff said about that), and later at its end during a quiet Thanksgiving dinner in Seattle.  Here he might have learned something about raising baby daughters, namely to not put steaming-hot mashed potatoes on their plates – it is really hard to get them off once a little hand plunges into them! However something tells me that this most caring of men was already ahead of me on this one.  His arms might have been massive, but his heart was all the more so. I will miss him very much.

Gerry was a high school friend with a zest for life and a constant smile. I even found more about his energy and talents in this summary. My sympathies to his family as they mourn.

I sat next to Jerry for 1 year at Bankers Trust LA in 1986. We were the first guys in, both drove a red Porsche, he in from Malibu and me from Manhattan Beach. We double bagged the coffee pot and tilted the vending machines to get free snacks. He was always taking copious notes in a handwriting that was so small it was indecipherable. He was the leader of a rollicking crew of fixed income salespeople and was always smiling, even when a Japanese bank declined a $20 million trade that they had confirmed. I would have tossed my phone through the window. During a 6.1 earthquake he kept talking, so I did too, as the ceiling tiles fell around our heads. That was Jerry, always poised and always smiling.

Ivanka we are heartbroken to know that you are in such pain and shock. We are at a loss as to what to say. Jerry will be so missed - he was, as you know, a sweet wonderful man who loved his three women . Take care we send you hugs

OBITUARY

Gerald Raymond Kowalski

December 27, 1958 – May 21, 2018

A.H. Peters Funeral Home

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