Herbert H. Gross

Herbert Hallganss Gross of Wellesley and Barnstable, MA, passed away on February 9th 2017, at the age of 81, after a courageous twenty-year, battle with Parkinsons Disease. He died peacefully at home surrounded by his loving family and favorite companions, dachshunds Axel and Riley. He is survived by his beloved wife of 57 years, Heidi Kost, a former German exchange student in New York City, whom he met on the Long Island Railroad in 1958. He also leaves two devoted daughters and four adored grandchildren, Christina, who resides in Natick, MA, with her husband Christopher Kruczynski and their two children Eliza and Nicholas; and Alexandra Gross and her husband Rinat Alexandrovich Sergeev, and their two children Felix and Karina, live in Boston, MA. He also leaves his beloved sister Lilian Grosz of Princeton, NJ. His family and his many friends will sadly miss him - a kind and noble man. Mr. Gross was born at the Richardson House (now Brigham and Womens) in Boston to the late Ernest W. and Hedwig (Treusch) Gross. He grew up in Wellesley graduating from the Wellesley High School in 1953, where he excelled at tennis, golf and cross-country. He graduated from Harvard University in 1957, with a degree in 20th century Military History. His favorite college memories were the two summers he spent in Montana painting bridges for the Great Northern Railway and, in his off-time, riding the rails to wherever they took him. Immediately after graduation, he left for Munich, Germany, on a Ford Foundation grant focusing on the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He continued his work at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. Upon his return to the US, he was drafted and served in the US Army at Fort Dix, NJ. After basic training, he joined the New York Army Reserve for the next five years as Protestant Chaplains Assistant. In 1958, he became a member of the du Pont family brokerage firm of Laird, Bissell & Meeds in New York, taking over their office in Boston in 1970. In 1973, his firm merged into G.S. Grumman and Associates, the predecessor firm of SG Cowen, where he became Director of International Sales and Development with an institutional client base in Boston, New York and London. He retired in 2001, one day after 9/11. During his 11 years living in New York, he served as Trustee of Long Island College Hospital involved in pediatric medical issues and outreach services to the Brooklyn Community. Mr. Gross was a passionate athlete excelling in many sports that included sailing the New England waters with his uncle Paul on his sloop PEM. For his love of the sea, his familys life revolved for 50 years around the incoming and outgoing tides at the Barnstable Yacht Club where he also served as Commodore. His off-season sports interests were centered on skiing, golf and squash becoming President of the United States Squash Racquets Association during the 1980s, where his efforts concentrated on the growth of the sport in the public sector, eye protection for all players, as well as supporting and promoting women players and the sports professionals. In 1970, after moving his family from New York City to his hometown Wellesley, he became involved in the Towns land conservation efforts, joining the Wellesley Conservation Council as its President concentrating on land acquisition, conservation restrictions and easements. After being diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease in 1997, he volunteered for clinical trials and studies of neurodegenerative Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital under the guidance of Neurologist, Dr. Michael Schwarzschild. Recognizing the urgent need for more exploratory research, he donated his body for that purpose to MGH. A private service will be held later in the year with internment in Cape Cod Bay. The Family thanks Dr. Schwarzschild and staff for their extraordinary care and kindly asks that in lieu of flowers, contributions in his memory may be made to Dr. Michael Schwarzschild, Dept. of Neurology, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA, 02114. Sincere thanks also go to Dr. Renee Remily, Wellesley Internal Medicine, as well as to the nurses and staff of Care Dimensions Hospice at Home. Cremation services were arranged by the Henry J. Burke & Sons Funeral Home, 56 Washington Street, Wellesley Hills.