Charles Joseph Kowalski, son of Charles and Catherine (Radis) Kowalski, husband of Rosemary (Ribich) Kowalski, father of Robert (Bobbie Jean), Michael (Amy), Steven (Melissa) Kowalski, grandfather of Dawson, Drew and Payton Horning, Nicole and Aaron Petric, Valerie, Sydney, Madelyn, Claire, Kendyl and Harper Kowalski, passed away just days shy of his 87th birthday.

Born in Chicago, IL in 1938, Chuck retired as a Professor Emeritus of Dentistry at the University of Michigan in 2009. He received his B.S. (Mathematics) from Roosevelt University, M.S. (Statistics) from Michigan State University, and his Ph.D. (Biostatistics) from The University of Michigan.

He held many positions during his long and distinguished career, including teaching assistant at MSU and UM, consultant and Assistant Director of the Statistical Research Laboratory at UM and Statistician at the Center for Statistical Consultation and Research (CSCAR) in the Office of the Vice President for Research at UM. He was a member, Chair, Co-Chair and Expediting Reviewer of the UM Institutional Review Board for Health and Behavioral Sciences during which he reviewed almost 5,000 research studies. He continued to work closely with the IRB office on an almost daily basis after his retirement until 2020.

Chuck was a member of the American Statistical Association, the Biometrics Society, the International Association for Dental Research, and the American Association of Physical Anthropology. He consulted for the National Football League, Park-Davis and Company, Nijmegen University ( Netherlands), Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic, Department of Antiquities, at the University of Alexandria (Cairo, Egypt) and The University of Michigan, the Veterans Administration Hospital ( Ann Arbor), Eastman Dental Center, ACTA (Academisch Centrum Tandheelkunde, Amsterdam). He also worked on numerous Committees and Service Activities, and presented workshops for CSCAR both individually and with others. He collaborated on a number of Abstracts. His publications number over 200. Two days before his death, he and his co-authors submitted their last paper. His range of interests changed over the years, moving from math and statistics to research ethics, philosophy of science, clinical research design and health care quality and outcomes.

Up until a few years ago, Chuck was an avid, if undistinguished, golfer. But his real talent, once, in sports was baseball. As a kid, he participated in Chicago’s Park District Programs, and was an outstanding left-handed pitcher at Harrison Technical High School. One of his proudest moments occurred when he was a member of the 1955 Chicago All-Star High School team which played a game against the professional Chicago White Sox. He pitched three flawless innings. After high school, during baseball seasons, he played for various teams in the then Kansas City Athletics Organization (now the Oakland Athletics). Off-season he attended the, then, two-year University of Illinois in Chicago on Navy Pier (the “only college in the country [world?] that could be torpedoed”!).

Chuck loved sports of all kinds. He was an enthusiastic fan of baseball, football, basketball and hockey and was eventually able to convert from being a Chicago Bears, Sox, Cub, Bulls, Black Hawks and Spartan fan to a Detroit Lions, Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings one, and, of course, the Wolverines. Up into his 70s he was a zealous squash player. He loved films of all types (but especially musicals); music of all kinds (he was still working on perfecting his playlist on Alexa at the time of his death). He loved the twenty years he and the family spent at their cottage “Up North” on Lake Michigan; and he loved his family. He will be greatly missed.

He was predeceased by his parents, by his brother, Bob, and his brothers-in-law, Ned Early, Frank Merrill, Ferd Rebechini. In addition to his wife, his three sons, their wives and his eleven grandchildren, he is survived by his sisters, Carol Kowalski and Marilyn Early, sisters-in-law, Anna Kowalski and Sandi Rebechini, Al Wilhelm (Gail), and Steve (Jackie) Ribich and a number of nieces and nephews.

Cremation has taken place. There will be a celebration of his life on Friday, May 23, 2025 from 4:30–6:30 at Polo Fields Golf and Country Club, 5200 Polo Fields Drive, Ann Arbor, MI. Donations in his honor may be made to the W. K. Kellogg Eye Center at The University of Michigan.