Karl S. Pnazek, 66, Plover, the former president and CEO of
CAP Services Inc. in Stevens Point, died at his home Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015, after
a battle with brain cancer.

A gathering for family and friends was scheduled from 4 to 8
p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, in the Atrium at PJ’s Restaurant in SentryWorld, 601
Michigan Ave. North, Stevens Point.

A memorial in his name will be established at a later date.

Pisarski Community Funeral Home of Plover assisted with
arrangements. Condolences may be offered online at www.pisarskifuneralhome.com.

Mr. Pnazek was born Feb. 15, 1949, in Chicago, Ill., a son
of the late Thaddeus and Lee Pnazek. He grew up in Chicago. He graduated from
Karl Sandburg High School in 1966.

He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of
Illinois in 1971, majoring in political science, and did post-graduate work at
Sangamon State University (now the University of Illinois at Springfield) and
the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

He worked in the Illinois Governor’s Office, first as a
citizen liaison and then as a human services consultant, before becoming
president and CEO of CAP, a community action program, in November 1976. At the
time, CAP provided services in Portage, Marquette and Waushara counties, but
since has added services in Waupaca and Outagamie counties.

When Mr. Pnazek became the president, CAP had an operating
budget of $400,000, with less than $100,000 in assets, and was 90 percent
public funded. Today, CAP has an operating budget of more than $16 million,
with assets of about $35 million, a total loan portfolio of more than $6
million and more than 150 funders or investors of more than $10,000. The public
funding has also dropped to less than 60 percent.

Under his leadership, CAP worked to help low-income people
create opportunities to be independent and “economically and emotionally
self-sufficient.”

CAP Services has become one of the leading community
development organizations in the area, helping more than 900 households buy
their first house, weatherizing more than 9,000 units, rehabilitating more than
5,000 residences and developing some 400 units of affordable rental housing.

Other programs CAP instituted include the Skills Enhancement
Program and business development services and lending to help create more jobs;
the car purchase program, Work-N-Wheels; Free Tax Assistance Program and the
Family Crisis Center.

He worked with Delta Dental and St. Michael’s Hospital to
establish the Ministry Dental Center to serve the dental needs of low-income
people in central Wisconsin.

He served on the Board of Directors of St. Michael’s
Hospital, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, the Wisconsin Federation for
Community-Based Development, the Portage County Legal Aid and the Community
Foundation of Central Wisconsin.

He received the “Quality of Life Leadership Award” at the Saint
Michael’s Foundation’s Community Leadership Celebration in 2009; the Wisconsin
CAP Associations President’s Award in 2001 for exemplary leadership in the
anti-poverty movement; and the Charles Hill Housing Advocate Award in 2002 for
innovation in the development of affordable housing and advocacy on public
policy issues affecting the industry.

Mr. Pnazek is survived by his wife, Bonnie Brown; one son,
Brandon (April); two brothers, Keith (Karen Ann) Pnazek and Kurt (Susan) Pnazek;
one sister, Karen (Jerry) Moore; four grandchildren, Brooklyn,
Spencer, Dylan and Alayna; and four nephews.