diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/GracefulStopSupport.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/GracefulStopSupport.scala
index 521175fe60..dba1cd6461 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/GracefulStopSupport.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/GracefulStopSupport.scala
@@ -36,8 +36,16 @@ trait GracefulStopSupport {
    *
    * If the target actor isn't terminated within the timeout the [[scala.concurrent.Future]]
    * is completed with failure [[akka.pattern.AskTimeoutException]].
+   *
+   * If you want to invoke specalized stopping logic on your target actor instead of PoisonPill, you can pass your
+   * stop command as a parameter:
+   * {{{
+   *   gracefulStop(someChild, timeout, MyStopGracefullyMessage).onComplete {
+   *      // Do something after someChild being stopped
+   *   }
+   * }}}
    */
-  def gracefulStop(target: ActorRef, timeout: FiniteDuration)(implicit system: ActorSystem): Future[Boolean] = {
+  def gracefulStop(target: ActorRef, timeout: FiniteDuration, stopMessage: Any = PoisonPill)(implicit system: ActorSystem): Future[Boolean] = {
     if (target.isTerminated) Future successful true
     else system match {
       case e: ExtendedActorSystem ⇒
@@ -50,7 +58,7 @@ trait GracefulStopSupport {
           case Success(Terminated(`target`)) ⇒ ()
           case _                             ⇒ internalTarget.sendSystemMessage(Unwatch(target, ref))
         }
-        target ! PoisonPill
+        target ! stopMessage
         f map {
           case Terminated(`target`) ⇒ true
           case _                    ⇒ false
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Endpoint.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Endpoint.scala
index 15bf4a8011..b5759409c9 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Endpoint.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Endpoint.scala
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ private[remote] object EndpointWriter {
    */
   case class TakeOver(handle: AssociationHandle)
   case object BackoffTimer
+  case object FlushAndStop
 
   sealed trait State
   case object Initializing extends State
@@ -202,6 +203,10 @@ private[remote] class EndpointWriter(
       stay()
 
     case Event(BackoffTimer, _) ⇒ goto(Writing)
+
+    case Event(FlushAndStop, _) ⇒
+      stash() // Flushing is postponed after the pending writes
+      stay()
   }
 
   when(Writing) {
@@ -221,6 +226,9 @@ private[remote] class EndpointWriter(
         case NonFatal(e: EndpointException) ⇒ publishAndThrow(e)
         case NonFatal(e)                    ⇒ publishAndThrow(new EndpointException("Failed to write message to the transport", e))
       }
+
+    // We are in Writing state, so stash is emtpy, safe to stop here
+    case Event(FlushAndStop, _) ⇒ stop()
   }
 
   when(Handoff) {
@@ -245,6 +253,8 @@ private[remote] class EndpointWriter(
       reader foreach context.stop
       handle = Some(newHandle)
       goto(Handoff)
+    case Event(FlushAndStop, _) ⇒
+      stop()
   }
 
   onTransition {
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Remoting.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Remoting.scala
index a26ac79733..1be99f6f86 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Remoting.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Remoting.scala
@@ -454,7 +454,7 @@ private[remote] class EndpointManager(conf: Config, log: LoggingAdapter) extends
       // Shutdown all endpoints and signal to sender when ready (and whether all endpoints were shut down gracefully)
       val sys = context.system // Avoid closing over context
       Future sequence endpoints.allEndpoints.map {
-        gracefulStop(_, settings.FlushWait)(sys)
+        gracefulStop(_, settings.FlushWait, EndpointWriter.FlushAndStop)(sys)
       } map { _.foldLeft(true) { _ && _ } } pipeTo sender
       // Ignore all other writes
       context.become(flushing)
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/transport/netty/NettyTransport.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/transport/netty/NettyTransport.scala
index d1ce2a265d..9b9179a0e0 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/transport/netty/NettyTransport.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/transport/netty/NettyTransport.scala
@@ -199,7 +199,13 @@ private[netty] abstract class ClientHandler(protected final val transport: Netty
 private[transport] object NettyTransport {
   // 4 bytes will be used to represent the frame length. Used by netty LengthFieldPrepender downstream handler.
   val FrameLengthFieldLength = 4
-  def gracefulClose(channel: Channel): Unit = channel.disconnect().addListener(ChannelFutureListener.CLOSE)
+  def gracefulClose(channel: Channel)(implicit ec: ExecutionContext): Unit = {
+    def always(c: ChannelFuture) = NettyFutureBridge(c) recover { case _ ⇒ c.getChannel }
+    for {
+      _ ← always { channel.write(ChannelBuffers.buffer(0)) } // Force flush by waiting on a final dummy write
+      _ ← always { channel.disconnect() }
+    } channel.close()
+  }
 
   val uniqueIdCounter = new AtomicInteger(0)
 
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/transport/netty/TcpSupport.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/transport/netty/TcpSupport.scala
index fb40b7d966..663568b2ba 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/transport/netty/TcpSupport.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/transport/netty/TcpSupport.scala
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ private[remote] trait TcpHandlers extends CommonHandlers {
                                 remoteSocketAddress: InetSocketAddress): Unit = ChannelLocalActor.set(channel, Some(listener))
 
   override def createHandle(channel: Channel, localAddress: Address, remoteAddress: Address): AssociationHandle =
-    new TcpAssociationHandle(localAddress, remoteAddress, channel)
+    new TcpAssociationHandle(localAddress, remoteAddress, transport, channel)
 
   override def onDisconnect(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, e: ChannelStateEvent): Unit =
     notifyListener(e.getChannel, Disassociated)
@@ -76,8 +76,12 @@ private[remote] class TcpClientHandler(_transport: NettyTransport, remoteAddress
 /**
  * INTERNAL API
  */
-private[remote] class TcpAssociationHandle(val localAddress: Address, val remoteAddress: Address, private val channel: Channel)
+private[remote] class TcpAssociationHandle(val localAddress: Address,
+                                           val remoteAddress: Address,
+                                           val transport: NettyTransport,
+                                           private val channel: Channel)
   extends AssociationHandle {
+  import transport.executionContext
 
   override val readHandlerPromise: Promise[HandleEventListener] = Promise()