Brian William Gillstrom

Brian Gillstrom passed away peacefully Thanksgiving morning surrounded by his loving family on Thursday, November 28th, 2019 at the age of 67. He was born January 9th, 1952 to the late Carl & Grace Gillstrom in Chicago, IL. Brian has also joined his brother Mark Gillstrom in our Father’s heavenly embrace.



Resident of Hartland. Devoted husband of 43.7644 years to Kathleen. Loving father of Gregory (Lisa) Gillstrom, Brien (Milena) Gillstrom and Melissa (Erik) Stalsberg. Cherished grandfather to Sandra Torres, Daniela (Guimel) Correia, Ty, Jaylin, Gabriel and Luciana. He is further survived by his sisters Joan Kilroy (Tim) and Marsha Doyle (Tom), as well as many cousins, nieces and nephews.



From 1975 to 2012, Brian was an employee then Owner and President of Midwest Die Casting Corp. He was an engineer at heart and devoted to his employees and customers. One of his many sayings he dedicated his professional life to was “If we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will”.



Outside of the office and being with family, Brian’s passions included: Fishing in Canada, cars, traveling with family and/or friends, getting involved in a project and playing the card game sheepshead. He also had on odd obsession with collecting coolers and flashlights much to his family’s puzzlement and amusement.



Brian also left behind many friends and acquaintances he positively impacted through his love, support, time and wisdom. He was always the first person to help a friend in need. Brian was also known to make strangers feel they were part of the family or go into exhaustive and nauseating detail of die casting to hapless cave tour guides.



In 2000, Brian was diagnosed with stage 3 esophageal cancer with a survivability prognosis of 15%. Through wonderful doctors & medical staff, therapists, spirituality, determination, grit and downright stubbornness, Brian was able to beat the odds. This allowed him to not only an extra 19 quality years of life with his wife but see all his children marry and introduce 6 grandchildren into his heart and he into theirs.



A Celebration of Life will be held at St. Charles Church, 313 Circle Drive, Hartland, WI 53029 on Saturday, December 21st. Visitation will be from 10:00 AM - 12:00 Noon, Mass will begin at 12:00 Noon with a Luncheon immediately following. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to Tricia's Troops Cancer Connection, 120 E. Wisconsin Avenue, Suite B, Oconomowoc, WI 53066 or go to http://www.triciastroops.org