Allen J. Tomaszewski

Allen J. Tomaszewski of Cedarburg, passed away on Thursday, September 30, 2021 at age 76 of cancer. He was born on September 17, 1945 to the late Alvin Tomaszewski and the late Cele (nee Startek) Tomaszewski. Al is survived by his wife Patty (nee Behling) Tomaszewski; sister Karen (Hank) Pleuss; children: Amy (Tracy) Brown, Andy (Angie) Tomaszewski, Kristin (Andy) Adams; step-children Topher (Leslie) Adams and Jon (Lisa) Adams; grandchildren: Madeline and Elizabeth Brown, Alex, Cece and Ivy Tomaszewski, Allison, Ellen, Layna and Ruby Adams and many nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his brother, Terrence Tomaszewski. Al grew up on the south side of Milwaukee. The Tomaszewskis were a sports family. His family would take in one or two Braves players each year in the fall, as players families would leave town. This love of sports carried over to adulthood as Al was a lifelong Brewers, Bucks and Packers fan. Al graduated from Pulaski High School in 1963 and was the first in his family to attend college. He majored in math and minored in physical education, receiving his BA from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse in 1967. Following graduation, his teaching career began in South Milwaukee where he taught middle-school math and physical education. He also coached. He left South Milwaukee in 1971 to teach and serve as an administrator at Juneau Academy. While there, he was elected to the School Board in South Milwaukee, where he served from 1976 to 1983. Not content to sit still, he attended Cardinal Stritch and received his master’s degree in 1975 - the first man to graduate from Stritch’s Special Education Program. He later received his Administrative License from Concordia University. When Juneau Academy closed in 1980, he accepted a teaching position at Nicolet High School where he taught special education; coached girls’ basketball, girls’ golf and girls’ softball as well as boys’ volleyball, basketball and baseball. He also served as the President of the Teachers Union and ultimately worked as an Assistant Principal. He left Nicolet in 2008 but couldn’t seem to stay retired. He began teaching as an adjunct professor at Concordia University. A few years later, while continuing to teach at Concordia, he also stepped into a full-time position in the Richfield School District as a middle-school special education teacher, where he remained until 2012. Teaching was his first love. His passion was making sure his students became successful, and his work had a lasting impact on the lives of many students and their families and it showed as he was nominated multiple times by members of those groups for the “teacher of the year” award. Al not only impacted his students but was loved by fellow educators. Al loved to organize, and would put together after school social events - cookouts, bowling leagues, picnics - because he knew that would bring unity to the staff and he felt that unity was vital to the educational process. Al also loved playing sheepshead with friends, and he was everyone’s go-to person for recommendations for a good restaurant. If you were working with him on Fat Tuesday, you knew he would be showing up with paczakis. He was a member of the Cedarburg Lions and served as their President. He always had a riddle or joke for his grandchildren, and when they came over with math homework, they couldn’t avoid his help! Following his Christmas marriage to Patty, Al acquired an addiction to Bernese Mountain dogs. He became involved in rescue, and they fostered too many to count. They owned six Bernese Mountain dogs over the course of 20 years, and given his soft heart, its surprising they didn’t own more. In 2020, they found a Corgi puppy they could not resist - Ruckus - and he brought Al a lot of smiles in his final days. For Al, it was always about people. He was a good man. Kind hearted, he tried to do the right thing, even if it wasn’t popular or easy. He lived with integrity, and was respected by others because he showed respect to them. He loved his students, loved and was loved by family and friends, lived his life the way he wanted to and had fun doing it. He will be missed. Memorial Services will be held on Thursday, October 7, 2021 at the Grafton Mueller Funeral Home, 979 N. Green Bay Road at 12:00pm (Noon) Memorial Visitation will be held on Thursday at the funeral home from 10:00am until 11:45am. Memorials to the American Cancer Society appreciated. A special thanks to Dr. Michael Brin for his compassionate care in the emergency room at Columbia St. Mary’s and to the staff at Horizon Hospice for their compassion and many kindnesses.