Ralph Grossman, Activist Called The `Father Of Seafair'

Ralph G. Grossman, the car salesman credited with launching Seafair, Seattle's Christmas Ship and many other local traditions, accomplished big things with little fuss.

"If Seattle had a best friend, he would be it," said his son, Roger Grossman of Benicia, Calif.

Car-dealership colleague John O'Brien described Mr. Grossman as "a gentleman who cared more about other people than he did for himself."

"He always had the best interests of the community at heart. It was the little things, as well as the big," said Dave Cortelyou, president and CEO of UNICO Properties.

Mr. Grossman died Wednesday, Oct. 16, of kidney failure following a heart attack. He was 83.

His vice president's office in the 58-year-old Pacific Lincoln-Mercury-Nissan dealership (formerly William O. McKay Ford) on Westlake Avenue North bears testimony to his impact on the city and its people. The walls are plastered with clippings, celebrity photos and citations from Variety Club, Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce, as well as national "salesman-of-the-year" awards from Lincoln-Mercury.

As Mr. Grossman himself said, "I don't play golf, I don't play cards, I don't fool around. I civic."

Born in Chicago, Mr. Grossman went to work at 9 to help support his family; at 22, he was the youngest district manager in the Walgreens drugstore chain.

Bored with retailing, he moved in 1939 to Seattle, where he managed a theater and then showed his civic involvement by starting a children's group, "Uncle Ralph's Safety Club."

When World War II ended, he helped organize a victory parade. It involved a group of community leaders calling themselves the Seattle Salts. The group generated the first Seafair festival in 1956 and Mr. Grossman later was referred to as "The Father of Seafair."

In 1948, hearing of Germany and Austria's need for food and clothing, he helped put in motion a plan that brought a Liberty Ship to Seattle to pick up tons of relief supplies for Europe. That was the beginning of the Seattle Civic Christmas Ship.

Mr. Grossman began selling cars at William O. McKay in 1949 and lent Lincolns to celebrities who came to town - particularly those with charity fund-raising missions.

He also helped begin the Variety Club Telethon, which raised money for Children's Hospital & Medical Center, and he delivered "Toys for Tots" to the hospital each Christmas.

Mr. Grossman ran for Congress in 1948 and Seattle City Council in 1956. But, said his son, his failure at the polls was Seattle's gain: "He could do a lot more for the community on his own."

Many gifts came behind the scenes, said Cortelyou, Seattle Rotary Club president.

"Before our meetings, he would slip up with an article about someone we needed to recognize," Cortelyou said. "He would be the first to clap when anyone was introduced. And when he did the introducing, he never gave a person's age, but stories about things that had made headlines the year the person was born."

Last month, when a homeless woman limped into the dealership, he arranged for a doctor to provide free care, then drove her to the hospital himself.

"And every New Year's Eve," his son said, "he'd sit down with all the charity solicitations that had come in that year, and write each a check."

Other survivors include his daughter, Heather Austin of Anchorage, and three grandchildren. His wife of 43 years, Jeanne Grossman, died in 1987.

Services will be at 1 p.m. Monday at Butterworth's Arthur A. Wright Funeral Home, 520 W. Raye St., Seattle. Remembrances may go to Hope Heart Institute, 556 18th Ave., Seattle, WA, 98122.