James A. Kowalski was the 9th dean of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York of the Episcopal Church in New York City, the largest city in the United States. He had been Dean from April 13, 2002, until he stepped down effective June 2017. Kowalski's father was Roman Catholic and his mother was Jewish, but they joined the Episcopal Church when they started a family. His father was "a blue collar worker, [who] served on the vestry...." Kowalski was born on September 11, 1951 in Willimantic, Connecticut, also described as a "blue collar town".