Always first to fight for the good name of Polish Americans and Poland, coming to the defense of Poland and her people, Chester Grabowski, Editor and Publisher of The Post Eagle newspaper, died on April 25, 2012; just seven months before the Post Eagle’s 50th Anniversary.
Chester was born on July 13, 1925 in Harrison NJ, to parents who emigrated from Poland.
He earned a B.S. Degree from Seton Hall University; he attended John Marshall Law School and earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence at Seton Hall Law School. He also attended Alliance College for special folk summer courses.
He was a former member of the Matusz Polish Folk Dance Group and a member of various singing societies.
Chester was fluent in Polish, and acted as an interpreter in the New Jersey courts.
Due to the lack of representation and recognition of the Polish people in the mass media, Chet Grabowski decided to dedicate his life to this cause. Taking a brave stand, Mr. Grabowski in 1963, launched his dream, THE POST EAGLE, a Polish American weekly newspaper. Through this paper he fought for Polish recognition in all areas of endeavor very successfully. Chester dedicated the newspaper to the preservation of the Polish heritage and culture in the U.S., the recognition for all Americans of Polish descent, and promoting good citizenship in our country.
He improved people-to-people contacts between Poles and Americans when Poland was under Communist control. Facilitating the adoption of Polish babies by American couples, encouraging Americans to study medicine in Poland, and raising money to build the Polish Mothers’ Memorial Hospital in Łodz, Poland, all helped to promote goodwill between the American and the Polish people.
Over nearly five decades Grabowski’s forceful editorials in THE POST EAGLE admonished Polish Americans for their passivity on the American scene. He spearheaded the campaign to boycott companies which sponsored television programs that broadcast defamatory comments, often in the form of so-called jokes, about Poland and the Poles. He also encouraged Polish Americans to seek elective and appointed governmental offices, to work for the election of pro-Polish candidates, and to influence American public opinion in favor of Poland.
In addition to lecturing at American colleges and universities on United States relations with Poland, Grabowski was the host of a 60 minutes’ television program, “THE POLONIAN HOUR”, which included interviews with top entertainers and political figures. He also ran his own radio show over WHBI in 1964.
He also appeared on numerous television shows which included the Joe Franklin and Allan Burke Shows, also a Polish talk show in Warsaw, Poland while touring there.
He met with United States Presidents Nixon, Carter, and Reagan, as well as presidential candidates Senator Teddy Kennedy and Senator Barry Goldwater. He particularly cherished photos of his numerous visits with his Holiness Pope John Paul II in Rome. King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, Lech Walesa and several other world leaders talked with Grabowski over his long career.
He enjoyed his friendships with Polish entertainers such as Bobby Vinton, Stephanie Powers, Ted Konopka, Loretta Swit, Liberace, just to name a few.
He was a frequent visitor to Poland, the land of his parents.
In politics, Mr. Grabowski was a candidate both for Congress and for Governor of New Jersey, as well as state coordinator for the Presidential candidates of both Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon.
But no medal, no amount of recognition or kudos, will come close to the love and gratitude he engendered with those who knew him best. Listing his affiliations and distinctions is a dry way of acknowledging his achievements, but a necessary one. However, composing a list of the people he touched in a positive way would fill many volumes and still fall far short of illuminating the nobility of his spirit. Let us say that from time to time we are privileged to meet such a man. Requiescat in pace.
Chester Grabowski is survived by his former wife Jean (Garb) Grabowski, his loving children Chris, Ray, Matt, Val, Alex, his granddaughter Angelique, his nieces and nephews, and his many friends including Johnny O’Rourke.
Newspaper Editor who fought against stereotypes dies
By Jay Levin
Staff Writer (The Record)
Chester Grabowski of Clifton stoutly sought recognition for the Polish-American community through The Post Eagle, the English-language weekly he founded 48 1/2 years ago. Sometimes Mr. Grabowski, who died last week at 86, made headlines of his own. When Mr. Grabowski felt TV programs such as “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In” and “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” were crossing the line with Polish jokes, he led calls for a boycott of the shows’ sponsors, including Budweiser, the beer giant associated with Carson’s sidekick, Ed McMahon.
“We object to all the jokes that make the Polish look like fools,” Mr. Grabowski said in a 1970 interview in which he cited jokes that struck him as particularly offensive. In one, Carson held up a photo of a javelin and described it as “Polish artillery.” The newspaper publisher’s steadfastness won him the admiration of many Polish-Americans, including his good friend, the pop singer Bobby Vinton. “In my estimation, Chester did more for the Polish community than anyone I know,” Vinton said Sunday. The son of Polish immigrants, Chester Grabowski grew up in
Kearny and received undergraduate and law degrees from Seton Hall University. He never practiced law and instead worked as an encyclopedia salesman. Campaigning for Clifton City Council in 1962, he complained that he was not receiving enough publicity from the local media. “If you don’t like it, start your own newspaper,” he said he was told. That’s what he did. The first issue of The Post Eagle, on Oct. 2, 1963, featured a frontpage photo of Gov. Richard J. Hughes filling out his subscription card in the presence of Mr. Grabowski. The family-owned paper, with offices on Van Houten Avenue in Clifton, celebrates its 50th anniversary next year. It has 50,000 weekly readers, mostly in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida, said Mr. Grabowski’s daughter, Christine Grabowski-Witmyer, the editor in chief. The 1963 meeting with Hughes would not be Mr. Grabowski’s last encounter with the office of governor of New Jersey.
After Brendan T. Byrne was elected in 1973, The Post Eagle ran a front-page article under the headline “Governor Byrne Burns Polonians!”
The article said Byrne had refused to meet with a delegation of prominent Polish Americans demanding that he name someone of Polish descent to his Cabinet. Mr. Grabowski was the leader of the delegation. Four years later, Mr. Grabowski was among 14 independent candidates who challenged Byrne and his Republican opponent, Raymond Bateman. One of his campaign stands was ending discrimination against Polish-Slavic ethnic groups. With 8,494 votes, the gray-bearded Mr. Grabowski bested all but one of the independents. He tried again in 1981, when Republican Thomas Kean and Democrat James Florio were the major-party candidates. “You might say I’m a sort of Lech Walesa in New Jersey, pushing for justice for the Polonians, as we call ourselves,” Mr. Grabowski declared in a profile in The Record. He withdrew late in the campaign and urged his backers to vote for Florio, then a South Jersey congressman. But Mr. Grabowski’s name stayed on the ballot, and his 4,496 votes would have been more than enough to tilt the election to Florio, who ended up losing to Kean by 1,677 votes out of 2.3 million cast.
Apology from Reagan
Beyond politics, Mr. Grabowski is best remembered for championing and defending his Polish heritage. At different times, he hustled to the Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel to confront Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis for telling Polish jokes, and he complained about one that Ronald Reagan cracked during the 1980 presidential campaign. Reagan responded with a letter of apology that said Thaddeus Kosciuszko, the Polish general who aided the American Revolution, “would be saddened to see the integrity and honor of his native land sullied by crude jokes and slurs.” Vinton, known as “the Polish prince,” said that being in the entertainment field, he initially was not concerned about the Polish jokes that Don Rickles and other comedians used to tell. “I’ve heard every routine there is,” the 77-year-old singer said. “But being around Chester and hearing him say the jokes hurt the image of young Polish children, I started to take offense as well.” Noting that ethnic jokes — Polish and otherwise — have largely passed from the scene, Vinton said he can’t help but think his friend had an impact.
“I don’t think anyone will take his place as far as promoting the Polish community, and looking out for it,” said Vinton, who receives The Post Eagle at his home in Florida. Mr. Grabowski was not without controversy. In the 1980s and 1990s, critics such as columnist Mark A. Stuart of The Record and Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz accused Mr. Grabowski and The Post Eagle of anti-Semitism for minimizing the extent of the Holocaust. “My dad was not anti-Semitic, and I was raised by the man and saw his day-to-day operation,” Matthew Grabowski said Sunday. What inflamed critics, Matthew Grabowski said, was his father’s assertion that there was a “bigger picture” — that many people who weren’t Jewish died at the hands of Hitler. Mr. Grabowski was quoted saying as much by Record columnist Mike Kelly in 1989: “It’s not exclusively a Jewish disaster.” Mr. Grabowski retired six years ago, keeping the titles of Post Eagle president and editor emeritus. A statement by Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, praised the newspaper publisher’s “tireless worth ethic on all things Polish-American.” Mr. Grabowski, who died last Wednesday, is survived by his children, Christine Witmyer of Clifton, Raymond of Clifton, Valerie Campbell of Nanuet, N.Y., Matthew of Clifton and Alex of Washington, D.C.; a granddaughter, and his former wife, Jean Garb Grabowski of Clifton. Services were held Monday under the direction of Shook Funeral Home, Clifton.
Email: levin@northjersey.com
(c) 2012 JAY LEVIN/northjersey.com
Chester Grabowski of Clifton stoutly sought recognition for the Polish-American community through The Post Eagle, the English-language weekly he founded 48 1/2 years ago. Sometimes Mr. Grabowski, who died last week at 86, made headlines of his own. When Mr. Grabowski felt TV programs such as “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In” and “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” were crossing the line with Polish jokes, he led calls for a boycott of the shows’ sponsors, including Budweiser, the beer giant associated with Carson’s sidekick, Ed McMahon.
Chester Grabowski
Editor-Emeritus Post Eagle (1925 – 2012)
Always first to fight for the good name of Polish Americans and Poland, coming to the defense of Poland and her people, Chester Grabowski, Editor and Publisher of The Post Eagle newspaper, died on April 25, 2012; just seven months before the Post Eagle’s 50th Anniversary. Chester was born on July 13, 1925 in Harrison NJ, to parents who emigrated from Poland. He earned a B.S. Degree from Seton Hall University; he attended John Marshall Law School and earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence at Seton Hall Law School. He also attended Alliance College for special folk summer courses.
He was a former member of the Matusz Polish Folk Dance Group and a member of various singing societies. Chester was also a member of the Kosciuszko Foundation, Association of the Sons of Poland, Polish National Alliance, Polish University Club of New Jersey, Polish National Union, and founder of The Polonians Inc. to name a few. Chester was fluent in Polish, and acted as an interpreter in the New Jersey courts.
Due to the lack of representation and recognition of the Polish people in the mass media, Chet Grabowski decided to dedicate his life to this cause. Taking a brave stand, Mr. Grabowski in 1963, launched his dream, THE POST EAGLE, a Polish American weekly newspaper. Through this paper, he fought for Polish recognition in all areas of endeavor very successfully. Chester dedicated the newspaper to the preservation of the Polish heritage and culture in the U.S., the recognition for all Americans of Polish descent, and promoting good citizenship in our country. He improved people-to-people contacts between Poles and Americans when Poland was under Communist control. Facilitating the adoption of Polish babies by American couples, encouraging Americans to study medicine in Poland, and raising money to build the Polish Mothers’ Memorial Hospital in Łodz, Poland, all helped to promote goodwill between the American and the Polish people. Over nearly five decades Grabowski’s forceful editorials in THE POST EAGLE admonished Polish Americans for their passivity on the American scene. He spearheaded the campaign to boycott companies which sponsored television programs that broadcast defamatory comments, often in the form of so-called jokes, about Poland and the Poles.
He also encouraged Polish Americans to seek elective and appointed governmental offices, to work for the election of pro-Polish candidates, and to influence American public opinion in favor of Poland. In addition to lecturing at American colleges and universities on United States relations with Poland, Grabowski was the host of a 60 minutes’ television program, “THE POLONIAN HOUR”, which included interviews with top entertainers and political figures. He also ran his own radio show over
A Voice for Polish Americans
Chester Grabowski met with His Holiness Pope John Paul II many times in Rome.
Chet Grabowski with Lech Walesa in Poland
Editor Grabowski with Cora-Ann Mihalik (WWOR - TV) reporter for My9 News (NJ)
(March 1996) Editor Grabowski with Tadeusz Mazowiecki (former Prime Minister of Poland – first PM of a free Poland)
New Jersey Governor Tom Kean with Editor Grabowski.
OUR EDITOR’S DREAM COMING TRUE. Chester Grabowski, Editor and President of the Polish Mothers’ Memorial Hospital
Foundation, founded in the U.S.A. to raise funds for this humanitarian endeavor, gazes over the hospital site. (October 1986)