Manitowoc native retires after 50 years with Goodwill. 'I have loved my job,' Bob Rosinsky says.
MANASOTA, Florida - Bob Rosinsky can still remember his first day at Goodwill Industries.
Half a century ago, the then 25-year-old Manitowoc native walked into Goodwill in Milwaukee for the first day of what he thought would be a six-month stint. That all changed within a matter of weeks.
As he came to work every day and got up close and personal with Goodwill as an organization, Rosinsky realized he liked what he saw. He started to look into the nonprofit's history and learned about its philosophy of giving people "a hand up, not a handout," as one of its taglines said. Rosinsky said he found it fulfilling to help people out in this way — it was certainly more interesting to him than the therapy and experimental psychology he'd been doing as he pursued a doctorate degree.
On June 30, after a 50-year career at Goodwill, including 31 in the Sarasota-Bradenton area, Rosinsky will retire. He will hand over the Goodwill Manasota CEO reigns to company president Donn Githens, who was selected last year as his successor by the organization's board of directors.
"Most people who retire have more fun," Rosinsky said. "My fun quotient will go up, but not by that much, because of how much I've enjoyed working here."
Rosinsky has been president and CEO of Goodwill Manasota since 2013. Under his leadership, Goodwill Manasota has fundraised for and developed a new corporate campus in Bradenton. He also worked with former CEO Don Roberts on moving to self-funded services at Manasota, oversaw the creation of the GoodPartner Coach program, which offers case management and mentoring for all employees, assisted in creating free Job Connection services throughout this area, and launched the American Veterans and Their Families program.
In retirement, he plans to go scuba diving, boating, fishing and hiking, play tennis, go to cooking classes, and travel.
But Rosinsky also won't be leaving Goodwill completely. He plans to work with a local production company to tell the stories of the organization's mission and services through film, and he wants to work on addressing homelessness in the area.
Over the past year, Rosinsky and Githens have worked together on the transition. A lot of that has been teaching Githens the difference between a staff role and the role of a CEO, getting him in front of the board, and letting him figure out things on his own. It's kind of like watching your kid grow up, Rosinsky said. He cleaned out his office in March and Githens moved in.
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Rosinsky said he's proud of his half-century at Goodwill. On that first day 50 years ago in Milwaukee, he never visualized what his retirement day would be like, he said. But it's almost here.
"I tell people all the time, for 50 years I've gotten up every morning and I've wanted to come to work. I have loved my job — somedays you love it a little less than others, there certainly are challenging times, too — but I never felt like the challenges would be overwhelming," he said. "I'm very very proud of the work that this board, this staff and this community has done to grow this Goodwill."
Rosinsky's father, Robert J. Rosinsky, was the first principal of Stangel Elementary School in Manitowoc and finished his education career as the principal of Madison Elementary School. He had taught sixth grade at Garfield, McKinley, Rapids and Madison schools. He and his wife, Betty, were also involved as volunteers in the Manitowoc community before moving to Tucson, Arizona, in 2017. Betty passed away in February 2018 and Robert J. Rosinsky passed away in May 2021.
Laura Finaldi covers retail and tourism for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, where this story was first published.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Manitowoc native Bob Rosinsky retires after 50 years with Goodwill
