Forgotten Buffalo: Historic & Hip...

Forgotten Buffalo: Historic & Hip...An Urban Explorer's Guide to the Buffalo-Niagara Region: Unique Landmarks, Historic Gin Mills, Old World Neighborhoods, History, Nickel City Oddities, Tours and More!

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Tour Polish Buffalo

Buffalo Ethnic Tours

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Last Fine Time Tour

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Classic Taverns-Awards

Classic Taverns-Buffalo

Dill's Tavern

Top Hill Grill

Talty's

Daren's Tavern

Scharf's Schiller Park

Pristach's

G&T Inn

Gene McCarthy's

Ulrich's Tavern

Artys Grill

Dick's Eastside Inn

East End Tavern

Sportsman Tavern

The Malamute

Taverns of Polonia 1910

Dalys

Eddie Brady's Bar

Ten-O-Won Grill

Classic Taverns-Travels

The Concertina Bar

Mels Bar

Club 505

Steve's Lounge

Classic Taverns-Last Call

Felong's Tavern

Billy O's Golden Swan

Big Joe Dudzick's Tavern

The Broadway Grill

Bramer's Grill

Concord Restaurant

Messner's Aero Bar

Ray Flynn's

Kutas Warsaw Inn

McBride's Pub

Strusienski's Restaurant

Private & Ethnic Clubs

Adam Mickiewicz Library

American Serbian Club

Corpus Christi AC

Croatian "Cro" Club

Dnipro Ukrainian Center

Dom Polski - N Tonawanda

Eldredge Bicycle Club

Polish Cadets

St. Stan's Athletic Club

Third Warders Club

Ukrainian-American Center

FBTV Video

Historic Polonia District

Central Terminal

Polish Home Museum Project

Broadway Market

St. Stanislaus Church

Corpus Christi Church

St. Adalbert's Basilica

Superman Corner

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Eckhardt Department Store

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PPS Broadway Mkt Report

Polskie Kolo Spiewackie

Lucki Urban

Buffalo's Polonia History

A Polka Moment In Time

Vintage Polka Posters

Pulaski Parade 1962

Pulaski Parade 2006

Pulaski Parade 2008

Broadway Fillmore

Polonia Stories

1910 Maps of Polonia Buffalo

Buffalo Polonia - 1910

Preserve a Polish Home

Kaminski Meats

Polonia Scrapbook

Polonia On Parade

1965 Polka Convention

Polish Paintings

Power To Polonia

Beer Murals Nielsen

Forgotten Bflo Features

Kids & Wigilia Traditions

The Simon Pure Brewery

Lost Bflo Train Stations

New York Central at War

Pennsylvania RR at War

Talkin' Proud!

Buffalo Union Station

Bayliss-Oshei Residence

Niagara Falls Steak Sub

Buffalo Heights

The Statler Hilton

Metro Rail 1973

Bflo Before & After

Retro Chip Collection

Melody Fair - N Tonawanda

Buffalo Courier Express

History in Your Pocket

Corner Store Experience

The Fair

Most Endangered Sites

Re-Light the Rand

Pierogi @ St. Nick's

Whammy Weenie

Skateland - East Ferry

Jimmy Griffin 1929-2008

Jack Kemp 1936-2009

Sattler Theater

Masonic Lodge #846

Broadway Grill Reunion

Vintage Xmas Cards

Bocce Club- Clinton St.

Smiling Ted's

Buffalo Snow

Edsbyn, Sweden

Buffalo Drive-In

Buffalo 1969

Ray Bennett Lumber Co.

Ray H. Bennett Home

Ultra Cool: 70s Buffalo

Buffalo Bowling Shirts

Great Northern Elevator

Pullman / Wagner Complex

Pierogi Capital of US

North Park Theater

Zywiec Brewery

Buffalo Beer Trays

1964 Campaign For Pres

Heritage Discover Ctr

Tale of Two Roundhouses

Brand Names Catalog

Trolley Lobby BCT

Mentholatum, Hyde, Smythe

Chez Ami 311 Delaware Ave

Schreiber Brewery

Forgotten Buffalo Sounds

Sounds of Buffalo Beer

Sounds of Buffalo

Sounds of the Hound

Utica Club Beer Song

Forgotten Buffalo-Lost

Gramza's Cigar Store

Burczynski Bakery

St. Gerard's Parish

The Polish Village

Rudas Record Store

Tondrowski's Shoe Store

The DL&W Terminal

Buffalo Gas Works

S.S. Aquarama/Marine Star

Aquarama - Final Chapter

Sattlers 998

Rivoli Theater - Broadway

H-O Elevator

Riverside Men's Shop

Mastman's Kosher Deli

Crystal Beach

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CLASSIC PHOTOS

Bevador/Beerador Coolers

Parkside Candies

Buffalo's Last Roundhouse

Wildroot Factory

Buffalo Stockyards

Chicago Iron Works

Spolka Clothing

Forgotten Ontario

Tim Hortons #1

TH&B Train Station

Ivor Wynne Stadium

Canadian National Station

Minojijikum Island 1076

Forgotten Rochester

Retro Wegmans

Polonia Rochester

Spittoon Water Troughs

Forgotten Buffalo & Genny

Genesee Brewery Tour

Forgotten Bflo Roadtrips

Perreca's Bakery

F.X. Matts - Utica Club

Forgotten Buffalo-Media

Ch. 2: WGR & WGRZ-TV

Rocketship7

Commander Tom Show

Dialing for Dollars

Ed Tucholka

Polonia Media

Greg Chwojdak, WXRL

Tour of Bflo Broadcasting

WKBW Radio

WKBW Top 40 Celebration

KB Goes Kaboom! WKBW

1430 Main St - WKBW RADIO

A Thing of the Past 2006

WKBW's Tommy Shannon

George Hound Dog Lorenz

1420 Main St - WKBW TV

Forgotten Bflo Orchestra

R & L Lounge, 23 Mills St

Union Stock Yards Bank

The Think Bank

The Natural Tour

Preservation Corridors

Broadway

Fillmore Avenue

Lombard Gibson Mktplace

Project Paderewski

Forgotten Buffalo News

Despensata Corporation

Marketplace Kitchen

Buffalo Broadcasting

KAMINSKI MEATS - LOST JUNE 2006

Humble grocer quietly gave away millions: Waldemar Kaminski's death unlocks his story
By OWEN HEAREY
Buffalo News 6/23/2006

 

Waldemar Kaminski, who quietly ran a food stand in Broadway Market for more than 50 years, has been revealed to be a self-made millionaire and philanthropist who anonymously gave millions to Buffalo charities and neighbors in need. He died at home Wednesday night from complications of a long illness. He was 88. "He didn't want anyone to know him, but I just had to thank him," said Anne Gioia, co-founder of the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation, to which Kaminski donated several million dollars. "Now I think we should shout it from the rooftops." He made his hidden fortune in the stock market, carefully investing his hard-earned money over the course of his lifetime. The sole luxury in his unadorned flat, situated directly above Kaminski Meats, was the computer that he used to track his investments. "Sometimes I feel so guilty that there's so much, and it's just me," he said humbly to Cindy Eller, vice president for development at Roswell Park, when he showed her around the apartment he lived in for much of his life. "He felt that if you died a wealthy person, you had not lived a worthwhile life," Gioia said. "I don't think he had any regrets." Kaminski gave so much to so many that it's difficult to quantify just how much he's given. He donated millions to Roswell Park - including $1 million for an endowed chair in pediatrics and $1 million to build a two-acre park on the institute's campus. He gave handsomely to other groups as well, including the Father Baker Home, the Salvation Army, Hilbert College and Camp Good Days and Special Times. He even helped neighboring families with mortgage payments, college tuition and lines of credit at his stand. "It wasn't a handout. He was supportive and helped them maintain their dignity," said one of his nieces, Marsha Kaminski of Oakland, Calif. "If they were helping themselves, he wanted to help, too," Eller said. His gifts were kept quiet both because of his deeply humble nature and for his personal safety. Kaminski had been beaten and robbed several times over the years, and publicly revealing his wealth would only make him a larger target. But now that he has died, no one who knew him is holding their tongue. The green space he helped create will be named "Kaminski Park" in his honor. "We were all afraid he would leave this world, and no one would know what constituted [his] greatness," Gioia said. Born July 23, 1917, in the Albany area, Kaminski first came to Buffalo in 1927 when his family opened a small grocery store in the Broadway Market. At age 17, he opened two food stands of his own, sometimes working as many as 18 hours a day. Though he was brilliant enough to pursue higher education, he turned down a college scholarship and kept working so his late brother, Dr. Chester Kaminski, could go to University of Buffalo Medical School. His grocery career was interrupted only once - when he joined the Army during World War II. As a first sergeant, Kaminski trained more than 1,200 men between 1941 and 1946. "He led a very clean, beautiful, uncomplicated life," Gioia said. "He was a true philanthropist in every sense of the word." Kaminski enjoyed talking with friends and those who came into his store about life, politics and stocks. And he loved to fish, taking a boat out on Lake Erie "whenever he could." When he was younger, he would take his brother's children tobogganning or kite-flying. "He was more of a kid than we were," recalled another niece, Patricia Kaminski of San Francisco. "We had trouble getting the kite away from him." Those who knew Kaminski said he felt most fulfilled when he was giving back to society. "He didn't need the material things for happiness. He enjoyed just being with people and doing what he could for them," Marsha Kaminski said. "When he sat in the park and watched others, that was his gift to himself," Eller said.


Walter Kaminski, 2004. Photo by M. Biniasz
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