Tom Kowaleski, PR mastermind for Chrysler, dies at 63

January 20, 2015 12:00 AM

Courtesy of Autoblog

Tom Kowaleski with Bob Lutz and the Dodge Viper. "Viper was a major part of my education in the automobile business," Kowaleski wrote on Autoblog in May 2013.

DETROIT -- Tom Kowaleski, who held key communications jobs for Chrysler, General Motors, BMW and most recently, Lincoln, died Tuesday. He was 63.

Kowaleski is best remembered for being one of the masterminds behind the wildly successful Chrysler press conferences in the 1990s.

It was Kowaleski, along with Chrysler communications chief Steve Harris and marketing vice president Bud Liebler, who planned such publicity stunts as driving a Jeep through a plate glass window at Cobo Center in 1992, and then dropping a redesigned Ram pickup from the ceiling a year later.

The stunts introduced a dash of show business to the auto show and propelled Chrysler off the business page and onto the front page and TV evening news, Kowaleski recalled in a 2013 interview with Automotive News that was published in January 2014.

"We started to build a broader audience than the automotive and business media who covered the industry 365 days a year," Kowaleski said.

Colleagues stunned

News of Kowaleski’s passing spread quickly late Tuesday on social media, leaving friends and former colleagues stunned -- many of whom chatted with Kowaleski last week during media previews for the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

"He was one of the best ever in talking about products and brands in ways that were both creative and impactful," said Tony Cervone, General Motors' senior vice president for global communications.

“I don't even know what to think,” Chris Preuss, a former Chrysler, GM and Ford communications executive, wrote on Facebook. “Tom Kowaleski has been in my life since the age of 16 as a friend and coworker with my father while at Ford.

"He was one of my first bosses, having hired me on at Chrysler through the agency ... he then brought me into Chrysler directly. We were reunited at GM, where again he was my boss and mentor ... and we've stayed close ever since with Tom working along side me at Ford and in various consulting roles,” said Preuss, now head of communications for Delphi Automotive.

Kowaleski joined Chrysler in July 1988 as manager of product and technology communications. Before Chrysler, he held various positions at American Motors Corp. and Renault, and at Campbell and Co.

Kowaleski succeeded his boss, Steve Harris, as head of communications for DaimlerChrysler, before leaving in 1999 to join GM. He was promoted to vice president of global communications at GM in December 2004 and stayed with the company until February of 2006.

He joined BMW as vice president of corporate communications, a job he held until he retired in May 2012.

Out of retirement

But he couldn’t stay away long.

When two Lincoln communications directors quit within a year, Kowaleski joined Ford in 2012 as a consultant and began plotting the strategy for Lincoln’s revival.

He helped guide Lincoln through some of its darkest days leading up to the launch of the MKZ.

Ray Day, Ford Motor Co.’s group vice president of communications, credits Kowaleski with setting the course for Lincoln’s resurgence.

“Tom served as a consultant and interim leader for our Lincoln communications team, helping to develop the strategy and many of the plans that successfully are being implemented today,” said Day.

“We will remember Tom Kowaleski for being the talented, passionate and creative communications leader who had the chance to serve so many automotive companies during his great career,” he added.

Kowaleski recently sold two of his cherished sports cars, a one-of-a kind Dodge Viper and a classic Ferrari. He was doing part-timing consulting work and dividing his time between Scottsdale, Ariz., and the Detroit suburb of Birmingham, Mich. with his wife, Diane.

After his birthday on Dec. 6, Kowaleski wrote on his Facebook page:

“Dear Friends: I am delighted to see all of your kind birthday wishes and thank you for taking the time to do so. It means a lot to an old man who does not get out that much anymore. I am particularly touched that not one of you mentioned my advanced age -- well, except one, so no cake sent to you in the mail!

"Thank you again and I look forward to seeing you all at some time in the coming year in interesting places in this big world!"

One of Tom Kowaleski's greatest hits: Having Bob Lutz crash a Jeep Grand Cherokee through a plate-glass window at Cobo Hall during the 1992 Detroit auto show.

Preuss, who worked with Kowaleski most recently at Ford, said: “Not to take away anything from others who were there, but Tom was a huge part of the success of Chrysler’s resurgence in the 1990s. The mega auto show extravaganzas and over-the-top drive programs that became legendary and are now a staple of this industry, were hugely influenced by Tom’s creativity, drive and passion.”

During the 2013 interview with Automotive News, Kowaleski recalled how Chrysler's success in the 1990s forced other automakers to raise their game during auto shows.

A few years later, after a string of Chrysler stunts, he described taking a sneak peek inside Cobo before another round of press previews formally began.

"It was the last weekend of setup. I walked into Cobo and saw a sea of black two-story high pipe and drape. I thought, 'My god, we created all this hysteria.' All of a sudden everyone was playing."