Dr. Gerald A. ‘Jerry’ Glowacki
Longtime Glen Arm resident was retired OB-GYN and former department chair at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center
Dr. Gerald A. “Jerry” Glowacki, a retired obstetrician and gynecologist who had been the chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center and also enjoyed collecting and driving classic cars and waterfowl hunting on the Eastern Shore, died of multiple myeloma Friday at the Broadmead Retirement Community. The former longtime Glen Arm resident was 85.
“Jerry was a visionary administrator, an excellent surgeon, and a dedicated teacher,” said Dr. Donald Spangler, a retired obstetrician-gynecologist, who also worked at Franklin Square, and was in private practice with Dr. Glowacki. “He was also a loyal friend who stood by people and friendships that he had developed through time.”
Gerald Anthony Glowacki, son of Benjamin Glowacki, a bank president, and Lottie Glowacki, a Social Security Administration worker, was born and raised in Syracuse, New York.
After graduating in 1954 from Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, Dr. Glowacki earned a bachelor’s degree in 1958 in biology from Le Moyne College, also in Syracuse.
In 1960, he married his high school sweetheart, the former Carole Andrews, an educator.
He obtained his medical degree in 1962 from Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, and was an intern from 1962 to 1963 in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and was an assistant resident in the department from 1963 to 1967. He was chief resident in the department from 1967 to 1968.
From 1968 to 1970, he served in the Army Medical Corps as chief of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Kirk Army Hospital at Aberdeen Proving Ground, and attained the rank of major.
In 1969, the hospital relocated from its namesake Franklin Square in West Baltimore to Rosedale in eastern Baltimore County, and Dr. Glowacki became the first chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at its new home.
“When Franklin Square moved there, it brought obstetric and gynecological services to eastern Baltimore County and Harford County,” Dr. Spangler said. “As director of the department at Franklin Square, Jerry was responsible for administering the policies of the department, leading the residency training program and we had a small private practice.”
He added that Dr. Glowacki, in addition to developing and overseeing a state-of-theart facility, had “new ideas and created one of the first programs that allowed fathers into the operating room for deliveries and cesareans, which was visionary.”
One of Dr. Glowacki’s interests was gynecological problems with the bladder and “Jerry was one of the first to have an interest in what is now a subspecialty called urogynecology,” Dr. Spangler said.
Dr. Spangler said Dr. Glowacki had a friendly and outgoing demeanor and that “patients liked and enjoyed him and residents revered him. Many kept in touch with him as they fanned out across the country and established their own practices.”
From 1970 to 2000, he was a member of the medical executive committee at the hospital, and had been a member of the medical policy and credentials committee at Helix from 1994 to 2000, and was a former board member of Blue Shield of Maryland.
In addition to his own work at Franklin Square, Dr. Glowacki was an assistant professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1970 to 2000; chairman of the program directors committee, District IV, American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists from 1983 to 2000; and associate examiner of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 1987 to 2000.
He was a professional member of what was then known as the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland, Maryland Obstetrical and Gynecologic Society, Baltimore County Medical Association, International Continence Society, American Geriatrics Society and American Cancer Society, Maryland Division. He also was a founding member of the Gynecologic Laser Society.
Dr. Glowacki wrote widely in his field on such topics as estrogen replacement, osteoporosis and estrogen, fertility and sterility, postmenopausal GYN problems in the geriatric patient, and dehiscence of fallopian tubes.
In 1984, he earned an extra master’s degree in business from what is now Loyola University Maryland, and his business interests included serving as president and managing partner of Drs. Glowacki, [Harrold] Elberfeld and Spangler P.A., president of GES Associates, managing partner of Germar Properties Ltd., and as a consultant to United Health Care Corp. He retired in 2000.
The former resident of old Carriage Road in Glen Arm who moved to the Hunt Valley retirement community eight years ago, “loved hunting and waterfowl shooting on the Eastern Shore,” said Mrs. Glowacki, a retired educator. “He thought deer hunting was boring.”
In addition to hunting, tennis and travel, Dr. Glowacki’s other hobby was his passion for collecting classic cars. In his collection were a late 1960s Cadillac, a Porsche from the same era, a Mercedes-Benz, and a fourdoor Rolls-Royce Phantom, his wife said.
“He really loved his Mercedes convertible, but he drove them all,” Mrs. Glowacki said.
Dr. Glowacki was a communicant of St. Isaac Jogues Roman Catholic Church in Parkville.
The family will receive friends from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. May 19 at the Lemmon Funeral Home, 10 W. Padonia Road, Timonium, with a memorial service commemorating Dr. Glowacki’s life beginning at 6 p.m.
In addition to his wife, a retired science teacher, Dr. Glowacki is survived by a son, Scott Andrew Glowacki of Perry Hall; a daughter, Janice Glowacki Zdanis of Glen Arm; and two grandchildren. Another daughter, Karen Elizabeth Glowacki, died in 2019.