|
 |
|
John Gronouski was born Oct. 26, 1919 in Dunbar, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1942. During WWII he served as a navigator in the U.S. Army Air Corp until Oct. of 1945. He earned him M.A. degree in 1947 and his Ph.D. in 1955, both from Wisconsin.
In 1952, he ran in the election for U.S. Senate against Eugene McCarthy - who won re-election. In 1959 he joined the Wisconsin Department of Taxation, and was named executive director of the Revenue Survey Commission. In 1960 he became the Wisconsin state commissioner of taxation, and supported John F. Kennedy in the election campaign that year. After his well regarded revamping of the Wisconsin tax system, he was appointed postmaster general by President Kennedy in 1963. He promoted the original five-digit zip code system, and worked to end racial discrimination against postal employees. He left the post office in 1968, when he was appointed as ambassador to Poland by Lyndon B. Johnson.
After the Nixon administration assumed power in 1969, he was asked by Johnson to become the founding dean of the LBJ School. He remained dean until his retirement in 1989. He moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin where he lived until his death on Jan. 7, 1996.
|
