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Grocer feeds community spirit

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Dave Kotwitz

EDGERTON — It's a rare boss who inspires his employees to dress up like the Village People and sing a song in his honor at the company Christmas party.

Dave Kotwitz is that rare boss, said Jenny Nunn, office manager at the Edgerton Piggly Wiggly.

"He's just really easy to talk to," she said. "He's understanding. He makes it fun."

Kotwitz, 53, loves his work and his community, and the joy shining in his twinkling blue eyes and ruddy cheeks is infectious.

He gladly plays the role of community grocer, sponsoring local sports teams, giving teens their first jobs and playing an active role in efforts to make Edgerton better.

When asked why he's so involved, he laughed as if the answer couldn't be more obvious.

"I live here," he said. "If I don't do something to make it better, it's not worth being here."

Kotwitz doesn't like to talk about himself, unless it's to make a joke at his expense. He leaves it to other people to sing his praises.

"He's always humble and behind the scenes, but he's a powerful player in our community," said Norm Fjelstad, Edgerton superintendent.

When Fjelstad arrived in the community two decades ago, he recognized Kotwitz as a leader and asked him for help passing a facilities referendum.

Later, Fjelstad asked Kotwitz to serve on the first Wartmann Endowment for the Performing Arts Board.

Community leaders said Kotwitz knows how to get a job done without making a big fuss.

His fundraising efforts were essential to the Sterling North Society's purchase and renovation of North's childhood home in the 1990s, said Jan Stephenson, current board president.

She calls Kotwitz her "overseer" because she knows she can count on him to keep the house and grounds in shape, she said.

Kotwitz's work on the society board inspired him to join other groups, he said. He's active with the Edgerton Redevelopment Authority, Edgerton Noon Rotary, Edgerton Coalition for a Healthy Community and Edgerton Community Fund.

In the early days of the fund, he and friend Dave Rappe organized a "DaveFest." Everyone received a nametag that said "Dave," and anyone actually named Dave got in free.

"Nobody came to it, but we had a good time," Kotwitz said.

Despite that setback, anyone who knows Kotwitz would call him a success. He started working at the Janesville Piggly Wiggly at 16, transferring to the Edgerton store two years later, and eventually worked his way up to manager and finally owner.

In that time, he's gotten more out of his community work than he's ever given, he said.

"That's the misconception people have, that if you're involved with something that you're totally giving of yourself, but you're not," he said. "You're receiving a lot of stuff, too."