ROCKFORD — Tom Wartowski was a journalist, photographer, businessman, political activist, children's book author, homebuilder and prosecutor. But to those who knew and loved him, he was even more than that. Wartowski, 73, died Thursday after a 20-year battle with lung cancer. His wife, Peg, and son, David, were by his side. A few days before his death, David had found in Wartowski's office a decades-old note from Wartowski's mother written for his eighth-grade graduation some 60 years ago. The handwritten note on yellowed paper reminded a young Wartowski — whose family had fled Soviet ...