Kenneth Kujawa

1946 - 2015

(News story) Kenneth Thomas Kujawa, a lawyer and longtime Bowling Green business co-owner, died Oct. 17 in Methodist Hospital, St. Louis Park, Minn. He was 68.

The Sylvania resident had a malignant, aggressive brain tumor, his wife said. The couple were visiting their daughters in the Minneapolis area. He developed leg pain and other symptoms that led to discovery of the tumor.

"We had no idea," his wife, Jean, said. "It came on like there was no tomorrow."

About 25 years ago, he learned he had leukemia.

"They told him to go home and write a will," his wife said. Instead, he found treatment at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas, which included a bone-marrow transplant.

"It worked. It was a long three-year battle to find the donor and then recover and go back for stem cells," his wife said.

The experience led him to put his priorities in order, his son, Bryan said.

"Family was first," his son said.

His wife added: "Things you sometimes take for granted, he treasured."

Mr. Kujawa was president of Advanced Specialty Products Inc. in Bowling Green, which he and his brother, Eugene, founded 32 years ago. His brother is vice president.

At first, the business made windows for recreational vans and did van conversions. The firm changed focus in the years after his leukemia. Contract assembly and packaging became a specialty.

"Businesses usually fail. This one did not fail," his wife said. "He was very resilient and was able to find new opportunities, rather than stay with the old."

"He enjoyed creating employment for the students and the people in Bowling Green," his wife said.

He prepared to retire by getting a Florida real estate license.

He was born July 19, 1947, to Gertrude and Frank Kujawa. He was a 1965 graduate of Whitmer High School, where he was a class officer and took part in its acclaimed debate team. He received a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Toledo in 1968 and, having been in the ROTC program, became an Army second lieutenant.

While in UT law school, he was a summer intern in Washington for the secretary of the Army. There he met his wife, a Georgia State University student on a summer internship. He was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1971. During the couple's five-year courtship, he was an assistant Lucas County prosecutor, an active duty and Army Reserve officer, was general counsel to a presidential study of water resources, and received a master of law degree from Georgetown University.

The couple returned to northwest Ohio so he could help out in the businesses his father led, Toledo Tool & Die Co. and Production Research Co.

Surviving are his wife, Jean, whom he married Dec. 20, 1975; daughters, Christine Jones and Jennifer Rhoads; son, Bryan; brother, Eugene, and four grandchildren.

The family will receive guests from 5:30-8 p.m. Thursday in the Reeb Funeral Home, Sylvania, with a military service at 7 p.m. Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. Friday in St. Joseph Church, Sylvania, where he was a member.

The family suggests tributes to the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.

This story was written by Blade Staff Writer Mark Zaborney. Contact him at: mzaborney@theblade.com">mzaborney@theblade.com">mzaborney@theblade.com">mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.