Background
Gronouski was born in Dunbar, Wisconsin, the son of Mary (Riley) and John Austin Gronouski.
Gronouski was born in Dunbar, Wisconsin, the son of Mary (Riley) and John Austin Gronouski.
He graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1942, and he joined the military during World World War World War II in 1947 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1955, both from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
He was of Polish and Irish descent. Gronouski served as a navigator in the Air Force until October 1945. Gronouski married the former Mary Louise Metz on January 24, 1948.
They had two daughters, Stacy Ann Jennings and Julia Kay Glieberman.
He earned an Master of Arts In 1959, Gronouski joined the Wisconsin Department of Revenue and was named the executive director of the Revenue Survey Commission. In 1960, he became the Wisconsin state commissioner of taxation, and he supported John F. Kennedy for President.
In 1963 Gronouski was appointed Postmaster General, the first Polish-American Cabinet officer As Postmaster General, Gronouski promoted the original five-digit zip code system, and worked to the end racial discrimination against postal employees.
After he left the Cabinet on November 2, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to be Ambassador to Poland.
After President Richard M. Nixon took office in 1969, Gronouski became founding dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Gronouski served as dean until 1974. In retirement, Gronouski lived in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he died on January 7, 1996.
He is interred in Allouez Catholic Cemetery and Chapel Mausoleum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
He served as a member of Eisenhower Commission (on international radio broadcasting) and as the Chairman of the Board for International Broadcasting during the Carter administration.