James Bernard Cieszlak, 59, of West Hollywood, CA. died suddenly, Monday, November 23, 2009 at his home. in California. He was born January 29, 1950 in Saginaw, son of Dorothy M. (Guyott) Cieszlak of Saginaw and the late Bernard F. Cieszlak, who predeceased him in 1998. James was a 1968 graduate of Arthur Hill High School and attended Delta College. He has resided in California for the past thirty years. His enjoyments included traveling, entertaining with jingles and show tunes, and he was noted for having a happy and outgoing personality. He will also be remembered for his generous outreach to other people. James was hospitalized this past June and was awaiting a liver transplant at the time of his death. He has participated in a UCLA Long Term Men’s Health Study for seventeen years and it was his wish to donate his body to UCLA to further that research, his final gift of generosity.

Surviving besides his mother Dorothy, are his sisters and brothers and their spouses, Sandra and Ed Barrera of Ft. Worth, TX; Jerry and JoAnne Cieszlak of Frankenmuth; Patricia Taylor of Reese and Zephyrhills, FL.; Mary Marlow and her husband Mark Kreher of Santa Monica, CA; Judy Welles of Reese; Janet and Bud Schopp of DeTour Village and Ft. Myers, FL; Michael and MaryAnn Cieszlak of Federal Hgts, CO; Roger and Sue Cieszlak of Dunedin, FL; and Karen and Steven Perkowski of Grosse Ile; fourteen nieces and nephews, many cousins, aunts, uncles and friends.

A private family memorial to celebrate his life will take place in Florida on his birthday.


James Bernard Cieszlak
“He was a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath brought a strong back and an out stretched hand to our labors a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination is my last sight of him. My ire rises at it. Where be his gibes now; his gambols, his songs? his flashes of merriment that set the table on a roar and so lightened our hearth with laughter?

You were a good man, James, a very good man, ….and a fine friend, a brother to me, beloved by your family. May you lie in eternal sleep, held in the bosom of our memory, for a time far out running your shortened life.

Farewell, my brother. May a host of angles speed thee to thy rest.”

W. Shakespeare


Those planning an expression of sympathy in Mr. Cieszlak’s name are asked by his family to consider becoming an organ donor and to see healthcare becomes available to everyone regardless of their preexisting health conditions.