Realtor revered by peers for her ethical conduct
4/18/2002Alice Malinowski, a Realtor for more than 30 years who was devoted to family and church, died Tuesday in her West Toledo home from complications of cancer. She was 76.
She had been ill since last summer, her husband, Walter, said.
She was associated the last 11 years with Robert F. Lindsay Realty Co. after stints with Melle, Danberry, Salsberry, DiSalle, and Ka-Pel-Ski real estate companies.
Throughout her career, Mrs. Malinowski sold homes, winning the appreciation of clients - and their referrals - and the esteem of colleagues.
“She had high ethics, and everybody loved her,” said Ann Veasey, a Realtor with Robert F. Lindsay. “She had a very caring personality. Alice was one who never thought about how much of a commission she would make. She put people first.”
Mrs. Malinowski's husband said: “She had a smile all the time. She just wanted to please everybody, to find the right house for the right person.”
She began in 1968 because “she wanted to get out and do something,” Mr. Malinowski said. “The kids were getting up there, so she decided to sell real estate.”
She started with a firm run by her nephew, Jack Kapelski.
Mrs. Malinowski grew up on Hoag Street in the Polish neighborhood centered on Nebraska and Junction avenues. She was a graduate of the former Harriet Whitney Vocational High School.
She worked on the line at Champion Spark Plug beginning in World War II and continuing until the late 1940s.
She was a longtime member of St. Catherine Church and its Altar and Rosary Society. She was a member of the St. Francis Guild and of Our Lady of Toledo Shrine, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary in Oregon.
She grew up as a Catholic, “she believed, and she participated,” her daughter, Janice Baker, said.
Mrs. Malinowski was an expert baker. Her chrusciki - angel wings - were made with whipping cream, and “they would melt in your mouth,” her husband said. Paczki, coffee cake, and milk chocolate cake were other specialties.
She was a seamstress and enjoyed handwork and quilting. She made clothes for her children when they were growing up.
In recent years, she joined a sewing group at St. Stephen Church in East Toledo.
“She had a great devotion and love for her family,” her daughter said.
Mrs. Malinowski and her husband traveled extensively, taking Caribbean and Alaskan cruises and trips to Hawaii and Florida.
Surviving are her husband, Walter, whom she married Sept. 13, 1947; daughter, Janice Baker; sons, Gerard and David Malinowski; sister, Irene Filyo, and three grandchildren.
The body will be in the Sujkowski Mortuary Northpointe after 2 p.m. today, with a recitation of the Rosary in the mortuary at 7:30 tonight. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow in St. Catherine Church.
The family requests tributes to the Hospice of Northwest Ohio, in Perrysburg Township, and the St. Catherine parish building fund.