Roman Gawlowski

Roman Gawlowski, 81, passed peacefully at his home in Hell, MI on May 21, 2025. 

Roman is survived by his wife of over 55 years, Patricia Ann, four children: Katherine (Justin), Melissa (Dan), Danny (Josie), and Andrew (Alice), and six grandchildren: Kai and Ember, Juniper and Violet, Asher and Corbin. He is also survived by his sister Barb and nephew Matt.  

Roman was born in Luniniec, Poland on March 28, 1944. A few months later, the Nazis shipped the entire family to a labor camp in Nordhausen, Germany. After the war, the family lived in a number of refugee camps in the US zone of Germany, where his father worked for the US Army, and later, a United Nations office that handled the affairs of 'displaced persons' (UNRO). 

Finally arriving in the US at New York on a converted troop ship in 1950, Roman became a Citizen of the United States in 1959. He attended schools in Detroit, including Cass Technical High School, and the Detroit Institute of Technology, where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering. Post graduate work was done at the University of Michigan. Schooling was interrupted by service in the US Navy, where Roman specialized in Anti-Submarine sensors and Communications as a crewman on P3 Orion aircraft; serving in Japan, Viet Nam, Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines. He received the Air Medal for his service in Viet Nam, as well as the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for Service in Korea, National Defense Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Viet Nam Service Medal (three campaign stars), Republic of Viet Nam Campaign Medal, and the Republic of Viet Nam Meritorious Unit Citation.  

After the Navy, he went to work at General Motors Engineering Staff, specializing in Advanced Product Engineering and later at their Detroit Diesel Division, where he was responsible for electrical components used on Diesel Engines. He later became the Senior Engineer for the application of Diesel Engines used for electric power generation. As an applications engineer, he travelled throughout United States, Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua, Great Britain, Ireland, Switzerland, Holland, France and Germany consulting with distributors and customers of power generation. He was called on to testify, as an expert witness, in a number of State and Federal courts, as well as the High Court of Ireland. A member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), he sat on committees that wrote a number of engineering standards. He served on standards committees of the International Standards Organization (ISO). He also served with the Electrical Generating Systems Association (EGSA); serving on the Technical and Standards Committee, the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, and as Association President; winning several awards from the Association for his service. He served as an instructor at the EGSA's "Power Generation Schools", authored magazine articles on Electronic Controls for Diesel Power Generation, and wrote several chapters for EGSA's "Onsite Power Reference Manual", a book that is used at the college level as a text for power generation. He also found time to serve two terms as Vice President of the HiLand Lake Property Owners Association. After retirement, he occasionally worked as a consulting engineer on matters pertaining to electrical engineering and on-site power generation. 

A public viewing will be held Friday May 23 from 4 to 6 pm with a service immediately proceeding at Borek Jennings Funeral home, 7425 E M-36, Brighton Mi. Donations may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital.  

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