James "Jim" Granecki

1947 - 2021

(News story) James "Jim" Granecki, 73, a pharmacist-turned-lawyer who eventually went back to his pharmacy career and continued it for the rest of his life, died Feb. 6 at Good Samaritan Society - Prescott Hospice & Marley House in Prescott, Ariz.

He died of coronavirus, said Rosi Granecki, his wife of nearly 25 years.

"He was a very generous, giving person, and a lifelong learner," his wife said. "He truly always enjoyed pharmacy, more so than he did working as an attorney. He enjoyed the world of pharmacy much more than the world of law."

Mr. Granecki retired in 2004 after nearly 10 years as a hospital pharmacist in Toledo. He and his wife lived for the past 17 years in Prescott, where he worked on a per-diem basis in retail and hospital pharmacy until shortly before he died.

Before he became a Toledo pharmacist, he worked for 15 years with the Wood County prosecutor's office, where he started as an assistant prosecuting attorney, helping establish paternity and enforce child-support obligations.

Earlier, Mr. Granecki was a municipal prosecutor in Fostoria for a time after being an an attorney for the Ohio Board of Pharmacy in Columbus for several years - the job he got in 1976 upon his graduation from the University of Toledo Law School. In 1978, was he appointed assistant to the executive director and director of internship of the board.

Prior to that, he was a registered pharmacist at the Ohio State University Hospital for a time and then served in the Air Force stateside as a pharmacy technician for a few years until he was honorably discharged.

Mr. Granecki was born Sept. 11, 1947, in Toledo to Teresa and Hank Granecki.

He grew up in central Toledo's Polish Village, graduating in 1965 from St. Francis de Sales High School, where he participated in a foreign study program, attending Ecole Saint-Michel in Annecy, France, for a year.

Mr. Granecki then attended the University of Toledo, graduating from the College of Pharmacy in the early 1970s and then becoming a state-registered pharmacist. He later graduated from UT's law school.

An avid reader, he took online writing classes several years ago from Yavapai College in Prescott, Ariz. He also enjoyed following drum and bugle corps, having marched with the Maumee Demons Senior Corps while in UT's College of Pharmacy.

Survivors include his wife, Rosi Granecki; son, E. James Granecki; daughters, Katherine Granecki and Laura Wright; stepdaughter, Jaime Pace Myers; stepson, F. Nicholas Pace; sister, Janice Granecki; and four grandchildren.

The family suggests tributes to scholarship funds in his name at the St. Francis de Sales High School Foundation and the University of Toledo Foundation.

A memorial service will be scheduled later. Funeral arrangements are by Heritage Memory Mortuary, Prescott.

This is a news story by Mike Sigov. Contact him at sigov@theblade.com or on Twitter @mikesigovblade.