Gary Grobman – RIP

Author Gary Grobman has passed away.

Author, reporter, politico, advocate, consultant, professor, marathoner, musician, humorist, gagman.

Gary had a life full of a wide range of activities. From the obituary:

When Mr. Edgar, a progressive Democrat and anti-war activist, decided in 1974 to pursue a Congressional seat in Delaware County in a district held by Republicans since 1858, he asked Gary to serve as his campaign staff writer. After a surprise victory, the newly elected Congressman hired Gary to work in his Washington office as a speech writer and letter answerer. Within five months, Mr. Edgar promoted Gary to serve as his senior policy professional staffer, where according to the Congressional Research Service, he was the youngest legislative director at the time. During his four years in that capacity, Gary served Mr. Edgar as an expert on several issues of national focus. After stints as a legislative assistant to Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, public transit lobbyist, and newspaper reporter for Roll Call – where he was a news reporter and political humor columnist – Gary entered an MPA program at Harvard Kennedy School of Government … After Harvard, Gary became the first executive director of the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition (PJC), the Harrisburg-based advocacy organization for Jewish federations and their agencies. During his 13 years at the PJC, Gary was the principal author of the state’s Holocaust Education curriculum; served as the Chair of the Pennsylvania Coalition for Human Services; and founded and chaired the Nonprofit Advocacy Network. He later joined his wife Linda’s book publishing and consulting business, White Hat Communications, taking on private clients.

For our purposes we will concentrate on Gary’s career as author:

Gary authored more than a dozen books, published by White Hat, Wilder, The Beautiful Foundation, and Arts and Humanities Press, on a variety of topics, including nonprofit management, business ethics, quality improvement, and technology. He teamed up with prolific cartoonist Jerry King to produce The Ph.D. Culture Cartoon Book, an extension of his book, Just Don’t Do It: A Fractured and Irreverent Guide to the Ph.D. Culture.

The Ph.D. Culture Cartoon Book consists of panels titled Just Don’t Do it with gags by Gary drawn by Jerry King.

The Ph.D. Culture Project Facebook page has numerous samples of Gary’s gag writing.

Gary’s Prabook profile page.

_{all images © Gary M. Grobman}