Evan Leonard Grau

Grau, Evan Leonard (Age 21)
Beloved son of Wayne and Maria Grau, brother of Elliott, Evan was born August 25, 1982 and died in his sleep on May 27, 2004 at his home in Rolling Hills, CA. Evan attended Peninsula High School, graduating in 2000, and he recently celebrated his graduation from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California on May 14, 2004, graduating Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Business Administration. His Associate's Degree was completed in 2002 at Marymount College. Evan was planning on continuing his education at USC in pursuit of his Master's Degree in Business Administration. As a teen, Evan's knack for excelling at electronic games earned him his first job at Chuck E. Cheese as a maintenance and repair technician. He matured gracefully into young adulthood with a warm and caring personality that made him a natural for serving customers at a full-time job on the sales floor at Best Buy in Torrance. He quickly moved up into a management level position while taking on full-time credits at school, and achieving near-straight A grades every semester. Evan demonstrated great courage after he was in a near-fatal car accident in 2002 and lost his right arm. Not missing a beat, he started USC two weeks later, as scheduled, in August 2002. In Evan's last years with us, he exhibited extraordinary growth, both emotionally and intellectually. He loved being with friends and family, having intelligent conversation, participating in fun, competitive games, listening to music and attending USC football games. Within the last year he developed a fondness for the game of pool, and would not hesitate to challenge someone to a game whenever he had the opportunity. A devoted sports fan, Evan loved following his two favorite teams, the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Dolphins. Recently, he was fortunate to get to see his Lakers in person in a playoff game at Staples Center. Evan will be deeply missed by his loving family, his close friends, his co-workers, fellow students and teachers. His remarkable strength in the face of adversity will always be remembered by everyone who ever knew him. Besides his mother, father, and brother, he is survived by his maternal grandmother, Rose Napolitano-Presti, paternal grandmother, Jane Grau. His surviving aunts and uncles, Peggy and Mike Selsted, Shirley and James Read, Sue and Fred Wilson, Leonard Grau, Lorinda and Paul Bellone, Robert Napolitano, Kathy and Len Napolitano. Services were held on June 2, 2004 at St. John Fisher Catholic Church. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to either American Diabetes Association or Peninsula Education Foundation, (310)378-2278. Green Hills Mortuary (310)831-0311