In Memoriam--Edgar Grossman (1919-1999)

Edgar Grossman, ABE '66, founder of the Harvard Extension School Alumni Association and the school's most generous benefactor, died on Wednesday, September 15, 1999 of complications from Parkinson's disease. The Boston Globe remembered him in this way:

"Mr. Grossman was born in Boston and was a 1936 graduate of Worcester Academy. He began working for his father's company, MassEnvelopePlus in Somerville, at age 16, and at the time of his death was in his 64th year with the firm. A retired lieutenant colonel in the US Army Reserve, he was also a veteran of World War II.

Mr. Grossman took courses at Harvard Extension School for 13 years, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1966. In 1969, he received a master's degree in counseling psychology from Boston College. He also served as a part-time counselor and staff psychologist at Harvard [Extension School] and Boston College from 1966 to 1973.

Mr. Grossman founded and was the first president of the Harvard Extension Alumni Association, and with his wife, Shirley, founded and endowed the Grossman Library and Common Room at the Harvard Extension School. Active in numerous civic and religious organizations, Mr. Grossman was a member of the Board of Overseers Visiting Committee at Harvard, the Advisory Committee on Service to Youth of the Massachusetts Youth Service Board, the American Personnel and Guidance Association, and the Harvard Club of Boston.

He was also a trustee and past president of the Boston chapter of the National Braille Press, a life trustee of Temple Emanuel, past president of the Temple Emanuel Brotherhood, and co-chair of the Operation Moses Campaign of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies.

He leaves his wife, Shirley (Dane); a son, Steven, of Newton; two daughters, Mary Ellen of Newton and Amy of Cambridge; a brother, Jerome, of Wellesley; a sister, Sara Ruth Sidel, of New York City; and six grandchildren. Burial was in Ohabei Shalom Cemetery in East Boston."

In tribute to one who epitomized the love of learning and service that characterizes Harvard Extension alumni(ae), we print a portion of the memorial service held in Temple Emanuel in Newton on September 16. At a capacity gathering attended by Senator Edward Kennedy and other leaders of the political, cultural, and business community in Massachusetts, Edgar's son Steven Grossman, president of MassEnvelopePlus and former chair of the Democratic National Committee, included in his tribute remarks his father made in 1991 at the dedication of the Edgar and Shirley Grossman Common Room at 51 Brattle Street. Edgar's grandson, Yoni Goldberg, paid his own tribute to one who "had a most positive role in all of our lives and in some way changed all of us for the better." Whether at Harvard football games, McDonald's, or fishing on the Charles, Edgar Grossman always looked for ways to introduce his love of ideas and values into the conversation.