Leonard A. Kanczuzewski

Leonard A. Kanczuzewski, 88, of Cassopolis, Michigan passed away on Monday, June 10, 2024 at The Sanctuary of Holy Cross. He was born on November 12, 1935 in South Bend, Indiana to the late Leopold and Joan (Dembinski) Kanczuzewski. On May 4, 1957 in St. Bavo's Catholic Church, Leonard married Sylvia Lucy Coppens, who survives. They recently had celebrated their 67th Wedding Anniversary. He was preceded in death by four children; Karen Jasinski, Kenneth Kanczuzewski, Thomas Kanczuzewski, Renee Trulli and one grandchild, Krystal Kanczuzewski. Along with his wife Sylvia he is survived by two sons, Timothy Allen (Cynthia) Kanczuzewski of South Bend, Indiana, Christopher Adam (Lori) Kanczuzewski of South Bend, Indiana, twenty grandchildren, twenty-three great-grandchildren with two more on the way. He is also survived by his daughters-in-law, Christine and Lyrin Kanczuzewski and his son-in-law, Chad Trulli.
Leonard graduated from South Bend Washington High School in 1953. He was part of the swimming team. His first job during High School was at the Flavor Rite Bake Shop. He started his career in transportation as a bill clerk at South Bend Freight. He earned a certificate of accomplishment from the Freight Traffic Institute of Chicago. He also completed a correspondence course from the College of Advanced Traffic. Leonard than went to work for F&S Transit as a rate clerk and later worked in sales. From there he worked for awhile with Navajo Freight Lines. He was selling piggy back services with Trailer Train than decided in 1977 to open his own business Consolidation Services. Shortly after he opened Consolidation Services International which was a International Freight Forwarder. He bought his first commercial warehouse in 1978 in Edwardsburg, Michigan. In 1980 purchased Parker Lumber in Edwardsburg. In 1982 Leonard purchased another warehouse in Elkhart. In 1983 as partner with his sons they purchased a company called M.E.T. which hauled import and export containers from the east coast. In 1989 they consolidated the trucking business into CSI Trucking in South Bend. Leonard and his sons did regional and over the road trucking until 2009. In addition to being in transportation Leonard was influential in starting the South Bend Foreign Trade Zone. In 1998 he bought the original Edward Lowe building in Cassopolis, Michigan and turned it into a business incubator.
Leonard was a longtime parishioner of Christ the King Catholic Church until moving to Cassopolis in the late 1990's. During Leonard's working career he was a member of Northern Indiana Motor Carriers, South Bend Traffic Club, Chicago Traffic Club, Delta Nu Alpha, and The Knight's of Columbus. He volunteered with the South Bend Chamber of Commerce with Project Future which was designed to promote business's moving into the South Bend community. Leonard was invited to go with the State of Indiana on several trade missions, one to Poland and Belgium where he met the King of Belgium. Later he went on another Trade mission to Japan. He was invited to participate on a trip flying on Aircraft Refueling Tanker to visit NORAD. Leonard was very proud to have his picture taken with President Bush. He was invited two times to visit Alaska to attend the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The second time he was asked to be a Musher for Martin Buser who was a champion dog sledder. Leonard loved the outdoors, fishing, deer hunting and spending time at his cabin. Most of all he loved to spend time with his family especially his grandchildren.
The family would like to extend their appreciation and gratitude to all the caregivers for the wonderful care and support they provided.
A visitation for Leonard will be held on Monday, June 17, 2024 at the Kaniewski Funeral Home, 3545 N. Bendix Dr., South Bend, IN from 4:00 pm until 8:00 pm. A rosary will be prayed at 7:00 pm in the funeral home. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Tuesday, June 18, 2024 at 11:00 am in Christ the King Catholic Church. Entombment will follow in St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park. Memorial contributions may be made in Leonard's honor to Christ the King Catholic Church. Online condolences may be left at www.kaniewski.com
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