Gordon Grossman ’54

Gordon died Nov. 25, 2019. He was 87.

He came to us from Bay Village (Ohio) High School, where he participated in publications, basketball, and baseball. At Princeton he joined Tiger Inn, wrote for The Nassau Lit, majored in English, won the Class of 1870 Memorial Prize for the best essay in English or American literature, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

In June 1954 he married Mary Ann Creel and enjoyed a Fulbright in English literature at Exeter University (UK) before two years of service in the Navy.

He then embarked on a distinguished and pioneering career in sales and marketing at Reader’s Digest, becoming circulation director overseeing global sales and marketing and senior executive vice president. In 1974 Gordon left Reader’s Digest to start his own consulting business, serving 85 clients including American Express and Xerox.

Gordon and Ann traveled to more than 100 countries and shared a passion for planting and propagating hybrid daylilies. Ann died in 1996. He became reacquainted with April Herbert, and they became constant travel companions, cruising around the world several times, marrying in 2009, and moving to Hilton Head, S.C., in 2018.

Gordon was predeceased by his daughter, Linda McAleer. He is survived by his son Earl and his wife, Suzanne; five grandchildren; his son-in-law Ken McAleer; his second wife, April Herbert; stepchildren Robin, Lauren, and Michael Herbert ’81; and five step-grandchildren.