John M. Kotlarz
John M. Kotlarz
October 8, 2011
John Michael Kotlarz, 62, of Cicero, died suddenly Saturday. He was a senior experimental machinist in the machine shop at Syracuse University, where he worked for more than 30 years. Prior to that, he worked at the R.E. Dietz Lantern Company.
He put priority on spending time with his family and was always working on a project to help out a friend or family member. He loved to play horsie with his grandson, who called him Bullseye.
He loved camping, hunting, sport shooting and the outdoors, and he made many trips with his family to Walt Disney World and to the Adirondacks. He also loved spending time in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. He was patriotic, and was an active member of the Otisco Gun Club and the NRA. Each year at Christmas he made hundreds of wreaths to give to friends and family as gifts. He often spent time working on the family farm in Skaneateles where he had grown up.
Surviving are his wife, Donna (Campbell); son, Brian (Brandi) Kotlarz; daughter Ellen (Adam) Duke; daughter-in-law Amy Kotlarz and grandson Samuel Kotlarz; mother-in-law, Mary Campbell; sisters, Rosemary (Harold) Stonecipher, Theresa Kotlarz, Jeannette Hauver-Kotlarz; brother, Peter Kotlarz; sisters-in-law, Pat (Diane Kochanek) Campbell, Joanne (Timothy) Colomb, and brothers-in-law, Bill (Henri) Campbell and Dave (Louise) Campbell; and a large loving extended family. He was predeceased by his parents, John and Adolfine Kotlarz, and son Adam in 2009.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, 10AM at Sacred Heart Church, Cicero, followed by a reception at the church. Burial will be in Pine Plains Cemetery, Clay. There are no calling hours.