Joseph Brzezinski

BRZEZINSKI, JOSEPH

Of Michigan Center passed away under the loving care of his family and the staff at the Allegiance Hospice Home Saturday, October 2, 2010 age 93 years. Survived by his wife of 20 years Anne. Children; Marji (Gail) Smithson, Linda Anne (Tom) Willhoff, Nancy (Ralph) Dannhauser, Ted (Linda Jeanne) Brzezinski, Ken (Mary) Brzezinski, Jim Brzezinski, Don (Debbie) Brzezinski, Rick (Cara) Brzezinski, Chuck (Pat) Brzezinski, David Kemmer, Richard Kemmer, Dennis (Patti) Kemmer, Moe Kemmer. Beloved daughter in law Linda Marie Brzezinski. 24 grandchildren, 19 great grandchildren. Two sisters; Rose Zukowski and Connie Andrews. Numerous nieces and nephews. Preceded in death by his first wife of 44 years, Mary Ellen (Fox) Brzezinski, his son Larry, granddaughter Megan, three sisters and five brothers. Joe ran Cross Country for Jackson High and captained them to a Cross Country State Championship in 1935. Joe won the Thanksgiving Day Race at Cascades three years in a row and as result was offered a scholarship to Michigan State Normal College. While running track there he was a member of the World Record setting two mile relay team at the Drake Relays. Joe received a diamond studded track shoe from the Chicago Tribune that he gave to Mary Ellen as an engagement present. Joe competed in a Mile of the Century Race at the 1940 Sugar Bowl. Joe was a member of the 1940 Cross Country Team that finished second in the NCAA Championships. Joe went to Michigan State Normal College to become a Teacher. He changed his mind and became an Engineer. Joe went to work at Autolite in Toledo. He studied Engineering at the University of Toledo nights and weekends. From there he went to Faraday Electric to manufacture small appliances. Joe left Faraday to work at Revco in Deerfield. They manufactured refrigeration equipment. Joe was considered to be one of the top five refrigeration experts in the country. Joe moved back to Jackson to become Chief Engineer at Kelsey Hayes. Joe was responsible for designing many of the buildings for Kelsey Hayes. Joe studied for and passed the State Professional Mechanical Engineers test. He was President of the State Professional Engineering Council with a term of two years. Joe went to work at Stubnitz-Greene as Chief Engineer of the Quincy Products Division. Quincy products made all of the freezer shelves for freezers made in America. Joe started at Spartan Electronics in the Spring of 1962 as Chief Engineer manufacturing sonabouys. Within a month of his hiring the Plant went from one shift to three shifts hired 1000 employees and manufactured sonabouys around the clock. Sonabouys are bouys that detect movement of ships and submarines and were extensively used during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was at this time that the family spent many hours in the parking lot of Spartan waiting for Joe to come out of the plant. Every so often a military officer would come out and apologize to the family for keeping Joe so late. Joe left Spartan to start his own consulting business; Seven Sons Supply. This business he ran with his sons and sold used equipment to manufacturing businesses. The sons (Ted) built a washer from plans drawn by Joe. The customer thought the washer was not pretty. The customer called Mary Ellen to complain and her response was for the customer to ship the washer back, it worked and she could find another customer for the washer. The customer relented and kept the machine. Joe found an industrial finishing machine in Grand Rapids that the family refurbished and sold to a Company in Brooklyn, New York. Due to an economic downturn this business did not do well. Joe went to work for a computer manufacturer in Ann Arbor. It was about this time Grant Newell of American Controlled Industries was looking for an Engineer. The Quincy Products Division was doing very well due to good maintenance practices. These practices were traced backed to Joe Brzezinski. Grant Newell hired Joe to become his Engineer. At ACI Joe improved production practices at all three divisions. Joe was in charge of several expansions of Colorpac, supervising the purchase of presses and other machinery. He was made a Vice-President of American Controlled Industries in 1985. He retired from ACI in 1987. Joe became a consulting Engineer for Vulcan Products from 1987 to 1997. While consulting for Vulcan He developed solar panels for NASA and held many patents. He worked at Vulcan's plants in Jonesville, AK, and Clarksville, TN. He created a plant for Vulcan and Brunswick in Wisconsin to manufacture plastic bowling pins. These became the standard pin for all of the bowling lanes in the country.
Joe encouraged his family to participate in sports. He would play football with his sons in the yard Sunday afternoons. Joe helped coach St. Mary's Track Team that included Ted to a Regional Championship in 1962. Joe's family earned over twenty letters in High School track. His later years were filled with golf and fishing.
Mr. Brzezinski is at the Desnoyer Funeral Home where a brief prayer service will be held Wednesday 10:00 AM followed by the Mass of Christian Burial at St. Joseph Catholic Church 10:30 AM. Interment St. John's Cemetery. The Rev. Robert Pienta officiating.

In lieu of flowers contributions to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society or the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation would be appreciated.

The family will receive friends at the funeral home Tuesday from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 PM. Rosary Tuesday 6 PM. To send condolences to the family go to www.desnoyerfuneralhome.com or www.mlive.com

Desnoyer Funeral Home
Family owned for 120 years