Dave Kurkowski was born in Scranton, PA on January 13, 1948, the youngest of four children. The son of a minister, he learned early the value of service to the community and of bridging differences by building a consensus.

Dave grew up in Harrisburg, PA and graduated from William Penn High School. He attended Oberlin College in Ohio, receiving his B.A. in Political Science in 1969. Influenced by an Urban Studies course he had taken, Dave set off for Philadelphia after graduation.

He initially worked for Philadelphia Councilman Dave Cohen as a speechwriter, but soon felt a different calling – education. For 14 years (1969-1983), Dave taught social studies in the Wissahickon School District in Ambler, PA — first at the junior high level, and later at the high school. He also taught for Head Start, a program that provides comprehensive education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families, and in 1971 served as Director of that program. Dave went on to earn a Masters degree in education from Temple University.

While at Wissahickon, Dave met Myra, a fellow teacher who would later become his wife. Dave claims he won Myra by cooking a spaghetti dinner for her, but according to Myra, it was when he played the piano for her. Dave was fascinated by politics, and in 1972 he began working towards his Ph.D. in Political Science at Temple.

Balancing his career as a teacher and his responsibilities as a husband and father, he attended graduate school part-time for ten years, receiving his degree in 1982. Dave decided to leave teaching in 1983 to join the Vanderveer Group, a market research consulting firm in Fort Washington, PA. He worked there as Executive Director until 1987.

Determined to “be his own boss,” Dave began his life as an entrepreneur and started two businesses in quick succession. In 1987, in the basement of his Lansdale, PA home, he started his own market research firm, Kurkowski & Associates. Myra left teaching to join him in this endeavor. Over 20 years, that small business has grown and flourished. Shortly after starting K&A, Dave founded another company to publish a landmark reference book, Current Leaders of Nations. This book provided information on every world leader and was sold to schools, libraries, and even the C.I.A. The rights to the book were sold to Thompson Publishing in 1997.

On becoming empty-nesters in 2002, Myra and Dave decided to move to one of their favorite places in the world, the quiet beach town of Cape May, NJ, where they had owned a home since 1997. They brought with them Kurkowski & Associates (now Kurkowski Market Research).

In 2006, Dave finally achieved his dream of serving the public when he won a seat on the Cape May City Council. In his tenure as a council member, Dave has successfully worked to preserve historic landmarks and improve Cape May’s commercial areas and parks. He accomplished these victories by building a consensus before moving forward. He calls his position as council member “the best job I ever had.”

Now, Dave has decided to run for Congress in New Jersey’s Second District. His reason for doing so is because he believes that the time for change has come. Our country is on the wrong path, and the American people are suffering the effects of our government’s errors. Dave Kurkowski believes that this is a time for building bridges to bring back to a stronger, healthier America. An America for everyone, not just a select few. Dave’s practical business sense and earnest desire to serve the public make him the right choice to represent New Jersey’s Second District.

While he is proud of his education and background, of all his achievements, Dave is most thankful for his role as a husband and the father of three children, Susie, Dan, and Ellen. He lives with Myra in Cape May and attends the First Presbyterian Church, where he sings in the choir and plays oboe. His father, Braynard, guided his congregation and his community by two ideals: battling against prejudice and providing charity for those less fortunate. Dave’s mother, Mary, herself the daughter of a minister, grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. Braynard met Mary while in seminary and they married in 1933, at the height of the Great Depression. Mary was as devoted to public service as her husband – at the age of 86, she led the drive to build a library for their rural community.