Babe (Frederick) Kozlowski

Babe (Frederick) Kozlowski passed away peacefully while listening to Frank Sinatra and surrounded by family on Thursday March 6th. Now enough about his death and more about his life.

Babe’s life was not dissimilar from a Greek epic, with infinite chapters and a fine line between tall and true tales. He was destined to be a legendary main character from his early days in Port Richmond. He told countless stories of his time playing semi-pro football for the Venango Bears, getting into mischief around the neighborhood with Gus and Lou, and an unbelievable tale about a horse named Midnight. It’s been debated that he was the favorite child of Mary Emma and Luke Kozlowski, but this has never been confirmed. He became a sidekick to his grandfather, Fritz, for whom he was named after and who bestowed upon him his entrepreneurial spirit. Turns out Fritz’s real name was Charles but that’s not important for this story. He opened his first bar, Babe’s, with the help of his grandfather at the age of 21, which he further developed into Babe’s All the Way House.

When Babe didn’t like the way people did things, he figured out how to do them himself. As a developer he couldn’t find windows he liked, so he opened a window company with the help of his brother-in-law Stan Borawski. When he couldn’t find his type of restaurant, he opened Babe’s Steakhouse, featuring menu items like “Babe’s Seafood Extravaganza.” And you know Babe loved a seafood tower. Babe’s Steakhouse was ahead of its time, with a hydraulically powered floating stage so that his friends, singer Jerry Boyle and pianist George Mesterhazy, could give every patron a front row seat. Babe’s hosted a weekly Eagles radio show and welcomed Eagles legends like Reggie White and Randall Cunningham.

While he was extremely proud of Babe’s, his greatest achievement and love was his daughter, Gabrielle. This isn’t a humble brag, just ask anyone and they would tell you the same thing. During her high school years, he drove all over the east coast taking her to field hockey practice, camps, and tournaments. During her college years playing for Columbia University, Babe threw himself into and excelled in the world of tailgating, and one time missed his daughter’s multi-goal performance because he was prepping for post-game celebrations. For the Senior Game he made a rendition of his famous seafood tower with lobster and crab. Gabrielle was a junior - it wasn’t even her Senior Game.

Babe was a diehard Eagles fan and preferred to watch every game at home by himself on the biggest TV you have ever seen. He would only go to games in person if he was sitting on the 50 yard line. Gab and Babe attended the last four Eagles Super Bowls and each one came with a story, like how we bought fake tickets for Super Bowl XXXIX and Babe almost got arrested at the airport for confronting the scammer. We ended up buying tickets from an NFL coach who shall not be named because I think he could still get in trouble.

His favorite thing in the world was bringing people together, preferably on a boat. Whether it was on a yacht in Croatia, Greece, Italy, the Caribbean, or on a head boat in Cape May where he hired a Frank Sinatra impersonator and relegated his family members to the brig to fry food and bartend for his guests. Nothing could beat his best boating memories, which were on fishing trips with his late son Freddie.

And who could forget his infamous hard shell crabs!? Well turns out we are all about to because he never wrote down the recipe. Trips to the Jersey Shore will never be the same, but we promise to uphold his traditions to the best of our financial capabilities. The Lobster House, Peter Shields, and Congress Hall have not seen the last of us.

Although he is no longer here physically, his legacy will never die thanks to his family and friends who are committed to share his story for eternity.

He will be missed by everyone that ever met him, but especially by Gabrielle and her fiance Blake, Gabby’s mother and Babe’s bestie Suzanne, cherished sisters Mary Lou and Chris, special cousins Pat and Joanne, countless extended family members, and his many nieces and nephews who lit up his world and of whom he was so proud. We invite you to share in remembering Babe on Tuesday, March 11th, with visitation from 9:30AM to 10:45AM and Catholic Mass to follow at 11:00AM, both of which will take place at St. George Roman Catholic Church, 2700 E. Venango Street, Philadelphia, Pa.