Professor Emeritus of Dentistry 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, died just days shy of his 87th birthday.
Born in Chicago in 1938, Chuck retired from U-M in 2009. He received his bachelor of science (mathematics) from Roosevelt University, master of science (statistics) from Michigan State University, and his Ph.D. (biostatistics) from U-M.
He held many positions during his long and distinguished career, including teaching assistant at MSU and U-M, consultant and assistant director of the Statistical Research Laboratory at U-M and Statistician at the Center for Statistical Consultation and Research in the Office of the Vice President for Research at U-M. He was a member, chair, co-chair and expediting reviewer of the U-M Institutional Review Board for Health and Behavioral Sciences, during which he reviewed almost 5,000 research studies. He continued to work closely with the review board 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, Parke-Davis and Co., Radboud University Nijmegen ( Netherlands), Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic, Department of Antiquities at the University of Alexandria (Cairo) and U-M, the Veterans Administration Hospital (Ann Arbor), Eastman Dental Center, Academisch Centrum Tandheelkunde Amsterdam.
He also worked on numerous committees and service activities, and presented workshops for the Center for Statistical Consultation and Research 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).
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, Cubs, Bulls, Blackhawks and Spartan fan to a Detroit Lions, Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings fan, 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 20 years he and the family spent at their cottage “Up North” on Lake Michigan; and he loved his family.
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 11 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 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. May 23 at Polo Fields Golf and Country Club, 5200 Polo Fields Drive. Donations in his honor may be made to the Kellogg Eye Center at U-M.
— Submitted by the Kowalski family
Adam Mrdjenovich
Comment: A Tribute to Chuck Kowalski
May 2025
Adam Mrdjenovich, Office of the Vice President for Research, University of Michigan
I worked with Chuck Kowalski at the University of Michigan for 15 years through his involvement as a member and Chair of the Health and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board, during which he made significant contributions to the protection of human research subjects. Chuck’s obituary speaks to his long and distinguished career in research, teaching, and service. He held a number of leadership and consultative positions, and he was active as a member of professional organizations and societies. Moreover, Chuck was an incredibly productive scholar throughout his career (he has over 200 publications to his name), and he continued to conduct research and publish papers well into his retirement and later years.
Chuck was a statistician and bioethicist with expertise in philosophy of science and clinical research design (e.g., cluster randomized trials, patient preference trials, and comparative effectiveness research). He was particularly interested in the pragmatic-explanatory continuum of clinical trials, and the implementation of efficacious interventions in real-world contexts. He argued that, while clinical practice relies on knowledge from evidence-based medicine, other kinds of knowledge are necessary and available from sources other than randomized clinical trials.
The 15 years of Chuck’s career in which I was involved are remarkable for having taken place after he retired. Fortunately for me, he was still coming to work almost every day as Professor Emeritus. And, although he had already done more than his fair share for colleagues by the time I came along, he still reached out to me. Chuck was a wonderful mentor. He was generous with his time; he motivated and inspired me, and he taught me a lot. We collaborated on more than a dozen journal articles. Most recently, we wrote about the commodification of health care in the United States, as well as implications of the patient-as-partner model for healthcare quality and outcomes, in collaboration with our good friend and colleague Dr. Dick Redman, Professor Emeritus of Nursing at the University of Michigan. Our final manuscript was submitted for publication just two days before Chuck’s passing.
Recently, I learned from Chuck’s family that he rarely discussed his work. I think that might have been a consequence of his humble nature. In fact, that was one of the things I noticed first and admired most about Chuck—he was very approachable and down to earth. In my experience, those qualities are exceedingly rare for someone as accomplished as he was.
Although Chuck may not have discussed his work much in conversation, he had a great deal to say in the papers he wrote. He was a gifted writer. His style was academic, but he also had a way of conveying his personality and interjecting humor that only comes with experience—it is so refreshing to read. One of the themes that runs through Chuck’s writing is what he liked to call “horses for courses”, which is to say that different research designs are suited for different research objectives—what works well in one situation may not work well in another—the important thing is to choose the right tool for the job by considering the requirements of the situation at hand. Ultimately, the choice of tool should be driven by the research question. Another recurrent theme in Chuck’s writing is that dichotomies are problematic—the world, he often said, is not so black and white.
Chuck touched many lives throughout his career. Mine was one of them. Over the course of 15 years, the mentor I had in Chuck became my colleague who became my friend and—particularly during the last five years of his life—that friend became like family to me. Chuck was a thoughtful man. He supported me through the loss of my parents and treatment for a serious medical issue. And he was generous with invitations to amazing dinners that included Eastern European delicacies such as Slivovitz and povitica, both of which are nostalgic and delicious! I am grateful to Chuck for his company and hospitality. I will miss our happy hours on the front porch and our visits around the kitchen table, which gave us a chance to reflect on life outside of academia.
My condolences to the Kowalski family and everyone who was fortunate enough to know Chuck. I hope your memories of Chuck will be a source of comfort. May he rest in peace.