FRANK P. GRAD

GRAD--Frank P., died at his home on October 14, 2014; he was 90. Born in Austria in 1924, Grad left his country on the Kindertransport with his sister to escape Nazism. After living with a family in England, he immigrated to the United States in 1939. The papers that recorded his arrival in New York list him as "stateless," but Grad wasted no time in making New York City his home. Although as a child he witnessed the horrors of anti-Semitism under Hitler, he rarely spoke of that experience, wanting instead to look forward to the promise of a bright future in America. A true son of his adopted city, he attended Eastern District High School, Brooklyn College, and Columbia Law School, where he earned an LL.B. in 1949. After a brief career in private practice, Grad returned to Columbia Law School to work for, and eventually direct, the influential Legislative Drafting Research Fund. He joined the full-time Columbia Law Faculty in 1969, teaching and publishing extensively on legislation, public health law, and environmental law. A dynamic and thoughtful force on the Columbia campus, Grad played a vital role in the recovery from the student unrest of 1968, leading the research and drafting team that recommended reforms to open the university's governance to greater student and faculty participation. His faculty colleagues remember him for his voluminous contribution to the law and to legal scholarship, his meticulous research, and his passion for public service. Grad, who served as a close adviser to Mayor John Lindsay, is credited with helping to establish the Housing Court in New York. A champion of public services for working-class New Yorkers, Grad drafted the New York City Health Code, the New York City Air Pollution Control Code, the New York City Housing Maintenance Code, the Model State Constitution, and the Model State and Regional Planning Law, among others. Grad also wrote the first comprehensive treatise on environmental law. He will be remembered by his friends and family for his wit, compassion and intellect. Grad was preceded in death by his sister and by his son, David Anthony Grad, who died in 2007. Grad is survived by his wife Lisa, his daughter Catharine A. Grad, and Catharine's two sons, Samuel Grad Oliver and James Grad Oliver. Funeral services will be at Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 West 76th Street, NYC, NY 10023, on Sunday, October 19, 2014, at 11:15am.