Obituary

Ronald Edward Gasowski

22 August 1941 ~ 8 July 2023

Ronald Edward Gasowski, known for his creative talent, unique personality and lifelong passion for making art in both traditional and non-traditional means, died in Tempe, Arizona on Saturday, 8 July 2023.  Upon his passing, Ron was 81 years and 10 months old – only 5 days difference in age from his wife Nancy when she passed in 2022.

Ron is survived by his adult sons Timon and Sam, daughters-in-law Lynn (Brynildson) and Susan (Stapleton), younger siblings David Gasowski and Jacqueline Hicks, and grandchildren Otto and Emme Gasowski.  He is preceded in passing by his wife Nancy (Mack), who passed away on 29 March 2022.  Ron is also preceded in passing by his father Edward and mother Marcelle.

Ron was born in East Detroit, Michigan, where he was raised with David and Jacqueline.  As a youngster in “Motown”, Ron was enamored with cars and the custom car culture.  He got his first car at 15 and immediately began customizing it.  But he got his start before that – the subject of his first customization project was his father’s lawnmower!

Ron was the first to admit that he didn’t apply himself and struggled in school.  He graduated from high school (as he liked to say, “just barely”) and, following that, moved to Los Angeles.  While in LA, Ron explored continuing his education (El Camino College; Industrial Arts; Automotive Body and Fender Repair).  But his priority was working on his own car — a highly customized ‘47 Ford 2 Door Sedan Fastback.

After a year in L.A., Ron drove his ’47 Ford – donned with cool California license plates – back to Detroit where he “cruised the main.”  On a lark, he entered his ’47 Ford into the Detroit Autorama and won second place.

While back in Detroit, Ron worked in factories and body shops – which he described as “dead-end jobs.”  He decided to go to college, but knew he was academically unqualified and otherwise unprepared.  He took high school courses at night to – as he liked to say – “brush up on what I was supposed to have learned.”  Next, he applied to Port Huron Junior College [NKA St. Clair County Community College].  There, he took his first art class, earned an “A” and was hooked.  

Ron then applied to the University of Michigan, not fully understanding that it was academically rigorous and selective.  His application was rejected.  He applied directly to the School of Art and was accepted.  He then reapplied through the University admissions office and received a probationary-like acceptance – one semester to prove himself.  At the time, he was 22 years old.  At the end of his first semester, Ron earned a 4.0 and was “in”.

He graduated Michigan with honors (Phi Kappa Phi).  While there, he reunited with his sweetheart Nancy, who lived with her parents in Allen Park, Michigan.  Ron fell in love with Nancy for many reasons, and always said “she is the nicest person I ever met”.  The young couple married in 1966 and were married for 55 years upon Nancy’s passing.

The newlyweds moved to Seattle where Ron pursued his MFA at the University of Washington and Nancy started a job at Boeing.  Upon finishing his MFA, Ron took a teaching position at Cal State Hayward.   Just before leaving Seattle, baby Timon was born. 

In 1971, after three years at Cal State Hayward, Ron accepted a position at Arizona State University teaching Art.  He stayed there for 31 years.  During that time, Ron co-founded a new department called Intermedia, which he described as “a holistically philosophical department that bridged all the arts into one another.”  Ron “specialized in low-tech mixed media and founded a class like no other in the country: ‘Folk and Outsider Art’, which highlighted art made outside of the established classical and contemporary . . . system.”

Ron was a prolific artist: sculpture, paintings, collages, xerography, ceramics, and many other mediums using a mind-boggling mix of media.  His favorite media, by a considerable margin, were discarded objects – and he did not discriminate.  Throughout his 52 years in Tempe, Ron collected and perennially stored a flotsam and jetsam stockpile of society’s thrown-away junk which he considered a treasure trove of art-in-the-making. 

While he exhibited his work all over the world, that was not why Ron made art . . . he did it because it was his lifelong passion.  He was most successful – and probably most proud – of his commissioned works, which totaled six in number within the greater Phoenix area.  Ron also did a large, commissioned project for the Zurich Company in Hamilton, Bermuda.

One of Ron’s crowning achievements is “Six Columns,” a permanent installation inside Phoenix Sky Harbor’s Terminal 4.  Each column stands 15 feet tall and is four feet in diameter.  They are enjoyed every day by Terminal 4’s passengers – which total over two million annually.  

When not teaching or making art, Ron loved to take his family on adventurous road trips and enjoyed camping, cooking, fishing, dabbling in animal husbandry and tending to his organic garden.  He also loved tinkering with what he described as his “really cool custom house in Tempe.”

But most of all, Ron was a beloved husband, father, grandfather (“Poppy!”), brother, uncle, teacher, mentor, artist – and dozens of other things to the thousands of people that he met, whether they were passing through his classroom or passing him by on the street. 

We already miss him dearly, and we always will.  But most importantly, we will remember the great — and sometimes zany – times, together with his witty (and often inappropriate and irreverent) sense of humor.  

We love you Poppy! 

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The family is planning a memorial service for Ron which will take place in January 2024 in Tempe, Arizona.  The Gasowskis will notify family and close friends of the details in the coming weeks.

The family is also working on a website that honors “the life, times and art of Ron Gasowski”.  Please check in regularly for updates and, once established, join our mailing list – gasowskiproductions.com.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to charitable organizations that were meaningful to Ron and Nancy:

American Heart Association – www.Heart.org

Key Issues: Cardiovascular medical research, Consumer education on healthy living; Foster cardiac care to reduce disability and death caused by cardiovascular disease and stroke.

St. Mary’s Foodbank – www.firstfoodbank.org

Key Issues: Arizona-centric hunger alleviation through gathering and distribution of food while encouraging self-sufficiency, collaboration, advocacy and education.

Arizona PBS (KAET) – www.azpbs.org

Arizona PBS is a member-supported service of Arizona State University.  Arizona PBS has been an Arizona-centric community resource for nearly 60 years, fostering lifelong learning through quality programming, in-depth news coverage and critical educational outreach services. Reaching 80 percent of homes in Arizona, Arizona PBS delivers news, science, arts and children’s programming to 1.9 million households each week. Donations can be made here.

KJZZ 91.5 – www.kjzz.org

KJZZ is an award-winning, listener-supported public radio station broadcasting to the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area.  As the NPR member station for the region, KJZZ features a mix of local, national, and world news, including BBC, American Public Media and Public Radio International. Donations can be made here.