The Spruce Hill community lost a champion of civic engagement recently with the death of Barry Grossbach, a longtime resident and community advocate, who passed away December 18 at the age of 86.

Barry lived in the neighborhood for over 50 years and was actively involved in the community for decades. He participated in and supported several local organizations, including the Spruce Hill Community Association, where he was a board member and served as the zoning committee chair for many years. He was also a founding board member of the University City District (UCD) and co-founder of the Friends of Clark Park.

A successful local real estate investor, Barry gave back to the community by supporting various local causes and neighborhood improvement projects. Just before his passing on December 18, he provided a generous gift to UCD of over $100,000 for tree canopy expansion in University City. Thanks to this donation, up to 80 new street trees will be planted in the area, with a focus on Spruce Hill.

Barry also supported the Clark Park improvement plan (“Clark Park Plan“) by contributing a significant amount ($400,000) to the Friends of Clark Park’s fundraising campaign last year. This donation will be used for upgrading the playgrounds at the park.

Recently, Barry also purchased a vacant lot at 43rd and Osage with the purpose of preserving it as green space for the community to enjoy.

You may have seen Barry walking the path at The Woodlands – where he will be laid to rest next to his longtime partner Mike Hardy.

“What we decided early on,” said Barry in a 2020 interview about his and Mike’s service in the neighborhood published on the UCD website, “Is because we were both interested in community work based upon our own experiences, there was no reason for us to be duplicating efforts by being involved in the same kinds of things. He was very interested in greening, and I was very interested in saving cities.”