Forrest E. Gorkowski

1936 - 2024

News Story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade Staff Writer

Forrest E. Gorkowski, whose acumen in money matters and ease with others contributed to the longevity of the financial services firm he cofounded, died at West Park Place senior community on Jan. 24, the day after his 88th birthday.

He had Parkinson's disease and congestive heart failure, his daughter Cathy Moynihan said. He and his wife, Sharon, moved to West Park Place in 2018. The family for years lived on Middlesex Drive in the Old Orchard neighborhood of West Toledo.

Mr. Gorkowski retired in 2011 from Gorkowski, Decker, and Associates, the firm he founded in 1978 with Larry Decker to offer a spectrum of financial services.

He'd begun his career in sales with Equitable Life of Iowa and in 1970 moved from his home state to become head of the firm's agency in Toledo. Mr. Decker was one of the young insurance agents he recruited, and they remained partners in their financial services firm until Mr. Gorkowski's retirement.

"My dad was personally careful with money," Mrs. Moynihan said. "He lived a frugal life, and my parents also traveled a fair amount. He helped people think about goals. He was very good at helping people budget and talk through things practically and think about big-picture things, but in a friendly, helpful way.

"I think he felt if you could help one person, you've helped a lot. You don't know the ripple effects," she said.

Mr. Decker's son Steve, 43, vice president of what has become Decker Financial Group, said: "I was a kid growing up in Forrest's office."

Later, the younger Mr. Decker spent more than two years in training with Mr. Gorkowski. An enduring lesson was, "if you do the right thing, everything will work out," he recalled. From that will flow referrals and other business.

"His last words to me, 'You've done it the right way.' I wouldn't be where I am now if it weren't for him," Mr. Decker said.

The growth in the book of business Mr. Decker bought in 2011 from his mentor has been substantial.

"All of it started from the nucleus of clients he brought me in on," he said.

Besides working with clients on investing and insurance, Mr. Gorkowski was an early advocate of estate planning for all.

"It doesn't matter if you're 30 or 70, if you have kids, money needs to go somewhere when you die, and you need to have an estate plan," Mr. Decker said. "He was always very interested in working with people's attorneys and CPAs and very much the team approach to financial planning and estate planning."

And he took the time with clients of even modest means.

"He was very much like a father figure to a lot of people," Mr. Decker said. "He helped lots of people who didn't necessarily have any money."

He was born Jan. 23, 1936, in Rock Falls, Iowa, to Irene and John Gorkowski. As he told it, his father had to venture into the bitter cold and bring the doctor to the house aboard a mule-driven bobsled across a snow-laden field. He spoke of childhood jobs, from driving a tractor and baling hay at age 9 to driving a school bus at 16 years old.

He was among eight in the Rock Falls High School 1956 graduating class. He was a student at Mason City Junior College when he met Sharon Hill on a date. They were engaged before he left for Army service in Regensberg, Germany. She traveled there, and the couple married on base May 25, 1957.

They and other young couples there became close and stayed in touch back in the United States for years afterward.

Back stateside, Mr. Gorkowski attended the University of Iowa, from which he received a bachelor's degree in marketing.

"He came back with more focus. He had grown up," Mrs. Moynihan said. "He was always a hard worker. My dad was a good talker, a good listener. He was a genuine person. So getting into sales was a natural for him."

A planner personally and professionally, he also lived in the moment.

"He took life as it came," his daughter said. "He was contented and happy and proud of how his life had turned out. He took care of his family and took care of others."

Surviving are his wife, Sharon Gorkowski; daughters Cathy Moynihan and Jenny Klear; son, Steven Gorkowski; sister, Joyce Lowery; six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

At his request, Mr. Gorkowski's body was donated to the University of Toledo's College of Medicine and Life Sciences, the former Medical College of Ohio.

Memorial services will begin at 1 p.m. Feb. 17 at Hope Lutheran Church, where the family will greet guests after 12:30 p.m.

The family suggests tributes to Hope Lutheran Church, where he was a longtime member, or a charity of the donor's choice.