Edward J. Kozlowski
Edward J. Kozlowski, 89, longtime resident of Milford, husband of Dorothy Rindos Kozlowski, died Feb. 18.
Born in Bridgeport on July 9, 1926 to the late August Kozlowski and Anna Biologlowy Kozlowski. Edward began his school years in Milford from kindergarten to high school. He joined the U.S. Navy at age 17 and served for 2 ½ years from 1943 to 1946. In 1946, he and twenty of his fellow students entered the service and received their high school diplomas in absentia. He was in the Pacific theater stationed at Pearl Harbor and received an honorable discharge as Second Class Petty Officer Torpedo Man.
He attended Clarkson University, accompanied by his first wife Joan Sapitowicz and graduated in 1951 with a B.S. in mechanical engineering. Edward worked as a machine designer and administrative engineer at the Bullard Company for nineteen years. This is where he met his second wife Theresa, they were married for 35 years.
Edward also served as the CT Division President of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He was active with the youth of the City of Milford and became an assistant Scout Master for Troop 1 and also managed several little league baseball teams. Politics was a strong interest and in 1967 he came an alderman. He proceeded to become the first Republican Mayor in Milford from 1969 to 1971. He was able to stop the planned five-million-dollar incinerator and built an alternative method for waste disposal which was the first municipal shredder in New England.
Edward solved many viaduct flooding problems in Milford and created 12 small neighborhood recreation parks for children, known as parkettes. Edward accepted the position of CT State Commissioner of Public Works and later was appointed State of CT Commissioner of Motor Vehicles. He used this opportunity to do outstanding things for the Polish community. Edward was responsible for the construction and naming of the Nicolas Copernicus Hall Science Building at CCSU, the repaving of three runways at Bradley International Airport and Platt Regional Technical School in Milford.
An accomplished man, Edward also broke the construction log jam of work stoppage at the UCONN Medical/Dental Center in Farmington and paved the way for its final completion, a sixty-four-million-dollar project.
Besides his wife Dorothy, he is survived by his children, Andrea (R.J.) Alexander of Trumbull, Edward (Teri) of Milford, John (Ellen) of Shelton, Michael (Jody) of Milford, Andrew of Milford, sister, Regina Griffing of Oxford, nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Also predeceased by his siblings, Joseph, Helen, Sophie, and Lucy.
Calling hours are Monday, February 22, 4-8 p.m., at the Smith Funeral Home, 135 Broad St., Milford. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Tuesday, February 23, at 10 a.m., at Christ the Redeemer Church, 325 Oronoque Rd, Milford. MEET DIRECTLY AT CHURCH. Burial will follow in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Buckingham Ave, Milford.
Memorial contributions may be made to Christ the Redeemer Church, 325 Oronoque Rd, Milford.
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