Anthony J. Gawron

Anthony J. Gawron NEW YORK - Anthony J. Gawron, 59, died unexpectedly on September 2, 2005 at Beth Israel Hospital in New York. He was born and raised in Chicopee, MA and was the son of the late Frank and Stella (Sawicki) Gawron. He was a graduate of Chicopee Comprehensive High School and served four years in the US Navy with tours in Turkey and Boston. His early art training included advertising design at Pasadena City College in California and graphic art technology at Springfield Technical Community College in Massachusetts. He attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he received a Bachelors of Fine Arts. In 1992 he moved to New York City to attend the New York Academy of Art Graduate School of Figurative Art where he received a Masters degree. He maintained a studio and was an active member of the AAI (Arts Alliance, Inc.) in New York, a non-profit located on the Lower East Side that supports development of the visual arts. He was a devout Catholic and found ways to connect his religious commitments with his artistic work. He was a daily volunteer at the Catholic Worker on the Lower East Side. He was an active member of the Our Lady of Sorrow Church where he served on the parish council and was in the process of completing the restoration of the Church's Stations of the Cross at the time of his death. He also donated many of his paintings to charitable and religious groups including his "The Last Supper" in 1992 to Worthington House, a shelter and soul kitchen in Springfield, MA where he was once a resident. In this painting, he incorporated some of the homeless who attended the soup kitchen. He was also an ardent and lifelong NY Yankee fan. He is survived by five brothers, Francis of Beverly, MA, Gregory of Westfield, MA, and Karl, Richard and Thomas of Chicopee, MA; two sisters, Barbara Kosciolek of Rochester, NY and Elizabeth "Bunny" Gawron of Cape Cod, MA; longtime friends Carol Jones of NYC and Julia Reardon of Pasadena, CA; 19 nieces and nephews and many other relatives and friends. His brother Michael A. Gawron predeceased him. Visitation and burial will take place on Saturday, September 10, beginning at 9:00 a.m. at Brunelle Funeral Home, 811 Chicopee St., Willimansett, MA, followed by a gravesite service at St. Stanislaus Cemetery in Chicopee, MA at 10:15 a.m. Memorial donations may be made to the Catholic Worker, 36 E. 1st Street, New York, NY or to a charity of your choice.