Gurnee Days names this year’s Honoree Daniel Kloczkowski

GURNEE – The Gurnee Days Corp. is pleased to announce Daniel Kloczkowski has been chosen as the 2018 Gurnee Days Honoree.

For 46 years, the Gurnee Days Corp. has selected a deserving individual or couple to be honored during the annual Gurnee Days celebration. The testimonial dinner honoring Kloczkowski will be Aug. 9 and traditionally kicks off the annual Gurnee Days festivities.

Kloczkowski was born on the South Side of Chicago and attended grade school and high school there. He graduated in 1976 from the Illinois Institute of Technology with a major in marketing and a minor in economics.

In 1976, he started his career at Cadillac Plastics in Chicago. The switchboard operator ordered his business cards printed Dan Kay because she could not pronounce or spell Kloczkowski. So now many people refer to him as Dan Kay. He joined Aspen Lane Acrylics in 1979. In 1982, he and two partners founded KHM Plastics in Gurnee.

Kloczkowski met his wife, Barbara, while working at Cadillac Plastics and they were married in Chicago. In 1984, the Kloczkowskis moved into a home on O’Plaine Road on Gurnee’s east side. They have a daughter, Melissa, and son-in-law, Todd, and twin grandsons, Lucas and Ian.

Kloczkowski joined the Breakfast Exchange Club in 2001. He served as secretary, president and a long-term board member. For more than 16 years, he has served on the Exchange’s Rib Fest Committee and many years as the chairman. While the rest of the people are enjoying the delicious ribs, Kloczkowski can be seen behind the counter, forehead adorned with a bandana, ensuring that the event is running smoothly. His commitment, contribution, support and ability to work with many Gurnee entities has been the driving force behind Rib Fest’s success.

He has worked on all of the other Exchange Club programs and was instrumental in the combining of the two Gurnee Exchange Clubs in 2014. He was recognized as Gurnee Exchangite of the Year and Distinguished Service Award, the Nation Exchange Club for Outstanding Service for the Prevention of Child Abuse and the Lincoln Land District Exchange Club Exchangite of the Year.

Appointed by the mayor in 2001, Kloczkowski joined the Village of Gurnee Zoning Board of Appeals and the Village of Gurnee Plan Commission in 2002. He served until 2007 and helped shape Gurnee. making the community a desirable location for businesses and residents.

He was asked to become a board member at Community Trust Credit Union, a nonprofit credit union, which has been a Gurnee business mainstay for more than 50 years.

Since 2010, he has been a board member of the Gurnee Chamber of Commerce and in 2014 became chairman of the board.

If someone from the community needs a helping hand, Kloczkowski will either provide the help or point to the right person who can help.

“There has never been a time when I have asked Dan for help when he has not been there. Whether it is business advice, chairing a committee, sponsorship check, raffle item, grill cook, baby sitter, event speaker, or a shoulder to cry on, Dan is always there just like he is for the Gurnee community,” Huntington Learning Center Director Deanne Fisher said.

For information about Gurnee Days, check the GDC website at www.gurneedays.com.