Alan Gross, who founded Gross Townsend Frank Hoffman (now Grey Healthcare Group), passed away on March 21 after a 43-year battle with cancer. He was patient #28 in the first CAR-T clinical trial for lymphoma in 2015, which gave him an extra five years.

Alan Gross and Jane Townsend

 
Alan, the former boss and mentor of many who still work in the industry, was inducted into the Medical Advertising Hall of Fame in 2011 and knighted by the queen of the Netherlands for his many years of volunteer work on the Dutch island of Bonaire, his adopted home for many years.
 
The following obituary was written by Jane Townsend, his wife and partner.


Alan Gross, a supremely good person, dies at 80 after a 43-year dance with cancer

Yes, he is well-known for founding and leading the large healthcare advertising agency Gross Townsend Frank Hoffman in New York City from 1978 to 1993. And yes, after retirement, he was knighted by the queen of the Netherlands for his many years of volunteer work on the Dutch island of Bonaire, his adopted home for many years.

But it’s not what he did, it’s who he was that’s important. He should be remembered for his kindness and goodness, two traits not always praised in today’s world. Beyond his personal achievements he will be remembered by the many lives he touched and made better.

He was smart as a whip but never lorded it over others (except when he did his crossword puzzles in ink.) He never boasted or bragged, except to boast of other’s achievements.

He was never mean or mean spirited. He almost always found the good.

He was a natural leader and mentor, showing people how to be intellectually honest while competing fairly.

He was a great teacher, but he never lectured. You had to pay attention and watch. He helped many of us find ourselves.

But he was also a ‘cowboy’, never reined in by the conventional. He pushed the envelope and pushed others, even to make mistakes. (As long as it wasn’t the same mistake twice.)

He set the bar high for all of us, never settling for the easy answer. He helped others to be their best, to be even more creative — while staying on strategy, of course.

And what a sense of humor! He loved to laugh, with the most joyous sound that would echo down hallways. He even laughed at cancer. Thumbed his nose at it several times.

He was so courageous, starting a business the year after he was first diagnosed and treated for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in his mid-30s. And undergoing multiple treatments over the next 37 years. Courageous again when he became patient #28 in a CAR-T clinical trial for lymphoma in 2015, which gave him an extra five years. And yet again in 2018 when a second cancer, acute myeloid leukemia, hit and ultimately took his life. For 43 years he danced with cancer, never complaining, never asking ‘why me?’ and never really slowing down. Some suspect he was the Energizer Bunny in disguise. He has been an inspiration.

He was also a visionary and a dreamer. Sometimes the impossible dream. (Yes, Don Quixote was his hero.) And he inspired many strike out on their own as he did.

He was a loving, caring father, always encouraging his two sons to go their own way, never demanding or smothering. And the best husband, partner and friend a woman could have.

Innovative, inspirational, imaginative, intelligent, indelible. A lot of i-words but he rarely used the capital “I” word. He was self-less and self-effacing. Wise and generous, patient and passionate. Loving and caring. As one dear friend wrote: “You are both quiet and loud. You are both demanding and accepting. You are both strong and gentle. You are the most wonderful mix of unexpected juxtapositions. How do you pull that off?”

He was a positive force that made this world a better place for many and made some of us better people. So many have said the world lost a good man today, but he will forever live on in our memories.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society since he fought both diseases so valiantly.

 

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Background Details:

Born Philadelphia, PA, April 5, 1940 to Mildred Klamen Gross and Harold Rosen Gross
Wife of 45 years: Jane Townsend
Two sons: Harold Edward Gross, Issaquah, WA and Michael William Gross, Charlottesville, VA
One granddaughter: Sarah Rose Gross, Charlottesville, VA
One sister: Tina Gross Rosenthal, McClean, VA
Graduated West Philadelphia High School 1959, University of Pennsylvania, BA Microbiology 1961 and PhD work in Microbiology/Biochemistry at Western Reserve Medical School.
Worked for ER Squibb & Sons Pharmaceuticals and later, with wife Jane Townsend and two other partners, created Gross Townsend Frank Hoffman healthcare advertising agency which was later sold to Grey Advertising.
Retired early in 1993 to the island of Bonaire in the Dutch Caribbean and devoted himself to volunteer work for the Red Cross, environmental groups and, especially, the creation of a large youth development program for teens.
In recognition of his volunteer efforts, in 2005, he was made a Knight of the Order of Nassau-Orange by the Queen of the Netherlands for his service to the Bonaire community.
In 2011 he was inducted into the Medical Advertising Hall of Fame.