GRAY, Robert J. (Bob) of Roslindale, MA, passed away on March 6, 2023, at the age of 95, surrounded by family. Born in Poznan, Poland, July 8, 1927, Bob’s given name was Romuald Wladyslaw Wincente Kaczmarek. He lived primarily in Poznan and the port city of Gdynia. He survived the Nazi and Soviet occupations of Poland and in 1947 escaped from the Soviet regime by hiding on a boat going to Sweden. He then joined his mother, who was in London, and in 1948 they both immigrated to the U.S. He often remarked on how incredible it was to see the Statue of Liberty when they first arrived in New York Harbor.
He lived in New York City and Miami, FL, before serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War from 1950 to 1952. He was trained to drive tanks but served stateside, primarily as an illustrator of army instruction manuals. In 1953, he became a U.S. citizen and changed his name to Robert John Gray. Hired that same year by Bell Telephone Laboratories, Bob went on to work for 33 years as an illustrator for Bell Labs in New York and New Jersey, where he created artist renderings of engineering plans, primarily for the Transatlantic Cable division.
For over 80 years, Bob dedicated his life to being a fine artist in the realist tradition. His works include drawings, sculpture, and paintings in watercolor, egg tempera, and oils. He had a lifelong, passionate interest in the arts and was proud to still be able to paint, even with impaired vision, up to the age of 95. He attended art classes in New York, including a sculpture class at Columbia University, but was mainly self-taught as an artist. He most admired the Old Masters, especially Rembrandt. He studied their techniques and treatment of canvases, paints, and media. For much of his career, he stretched and primed his own canvases and mixed his own paints using colorful jars of pigments lining the shelves of his studio. Contemporary influences included Richard Schmid, David Leffel, and Pietro Annigoni, who once met with Bob to review his work. After retiring from Bell Labs in 1986, Bob enjoyed having more time to paint and focused mainly on oil portraits. He painted many portraits of doctors and nurses in New Jersey and the Boston area. He also painted seascapes and landscapes, as well as religious-themed paintings. He exhibited his work in galleries and shows in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. He received many blue ribbons in juried shows as well as the Bainbridge Award for watercolor painting from the Allied Artists of America in 1959. A selection of his artwork can be viewed at Here.
Bob married the love of his life, Suzanne Leavery, in 1956. They lived in Manhattan and enjoyed being part of the Greenwich Village art scene of the 1950’s. They had one child, Lorraine, born in 1959. After Bell Labs built a new site in Holmdel, NJ, Bob was transferred there and, in 1964, the family moved to NJ, living first in Jackson, then Red Bank, and from 1973 on, in Ocean Grove. In 2006, Bob and Suzanne moved up to Boston to be near their daughter.
In addition to fine art, Bob had many other creative pursuits. In the 1950’s he invented and patented a navigational tool called Gray’s Course Computer. He also purchased a 32-foot, two-masted sailboat and spent many weekends completely restoring it. He fiberglassed the hull, replaced all the decking, sewed the sails, and restored the interior. During his youth in Poland, he had learned carpentry and woodworking and, later in life, made several pieces of furniture and elaborate screen carvings. He also made silver jewelry. He loved photography and his cameras, classical music and jazz, good food - especially chocolate, and all genres of film. Raised as a Roman Catholic in Poland, Bob later converted to Vedantism in the 1950’s. He was philosophically minded, driven to create, and an incredibly compassionate and loving man. He will be deeply missed.
Bob is survived by his daughter, Lorraine L. Gray, and her partner Mary Abigail Peck, of Roslindale; his nieces, Deborah Cook, Susan De Simone, Dorian Hodge, and their families; and dear friends in NJ, PA, and MA. He was predeceased by his beloved wife, Suzanne E. Gray (Leavery), his mother Melania Stanika, and his father Wincenty Kaczmarek.
A private service was held by the family at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA, on March 11, 2023. Donations may be made in Bob’s memory to The Tibet Fund.