Kenneth C. Kowalski, 76, died Monday, Aug. 3, 2015, at Saint Barnabas Medical Center following a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. Relatives and friends are invited to attend a visitation on Thursday, Aug. 6, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Caggiano Memorial, 62 Grove St., Montclair, N.J., caggianomemorial.com. A funeral service will take place on Friday, Aug. 7, at 10 a.m. at the funeral home, with entombment to follow at the Gate of Heaven Mausoleum in East Hanover, N.J. Born and raised in Bayonne, N.J., the son of Gerald and Mary (Petrovich) Kowalski, Ken was a longtime resident of Verona, N.J., and Roseland, N.J. He leaves his beloved wife, Christine (D'Alessandro) Kowalski; his brothers-in-law, Joseph D'Alessandro and Gregory D'Alessandro; his sister-in-law, Carol D'Alessandro, and his cherished canine companion, Samantha. After graduating from Bayonne High School in 1957, Ken was drafted and served in the U.S. Army and was discharged in 1964, attaining the rank of sergeant. Ken's career began with his introduction to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), where he rose through the ranks to the office of president and business manager of Local 1470, one of the largest IBEW local unions on the East Coast, with 18,000 members located in various industries and trades in New Jersey. During his early years and continuing throughout, Ken attended the St. Peter's Institute of Industrial Relations, the University of Wisconsin, and Rutgers University, along with numerous labor-management seminars presented by labor and management related to collective bargaining, grievance and arbitration and the N.L.R.A. From 1972 to 1975, Ken served as chairman of the NJ AFL-CIO legislative committee and participated in local, state, and national politics. Ken entered the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in October of 1977 with his appointment as a commissioner assigned to the Chicago regional director's office. In January of 1980, he was assigned to the New York regional office, where he assisted in mediating disputes in the retail food industry, the baking industry, electrical manufacturing, oil refineries, maritime shipping companies and the construction building trades in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Ken was appointed director of the Northeast District 1 in October of 1990, and later was appointed regional director of the Northeastern region of the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1995. He retired in 2003. Ken was a member of the Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts Labor Guild, and the N.Y.U. Labor Law Planning Committee, and acted as a faculty member and speaker for the American Arbitration Association in New England. He also served as chairman of the N.Y. Federal Executive Board, the Labor Management Employee Relations Committee, and was a steering committee member of the N.Y. Federal Executive Board representing all U.S. Government agencies. Donations to The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Research or the Barnabas Health Hospice Palliative Care Center in memory of Ken Kowalski would be greatly appreciated. -

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