Grant Gerald Griffith

Grant G. Griffith, raconteur, bon vivant, and faithful Blue Jay, lost his long battle with diabetes on March 18, 2026. Toward the end, Grant said, “I have no regrets because I lived the life I wanted to live.” And did he!

Grant was born on February 22, 1953, and was a lifelong resident of New Orleans.

Grant was preceded in death by his father, Gerald J. Griffith, and his sister, Jennifer Griffith Haston. He is survived by his mother, Mary Sue West Griffith, his brother, Scott Griffith, and his sister, Kathryn (Kit) Griffith, and several nieces and nephews.

He was a graduate of Jesuit High School and Louisiana State University. At Jesuit he was a member of the band and the golf team, as well as a founding member of the Mystic Krewe of Thunder Chickens, which rolled every Friday before Mardi Gras in the Jesuit school yard, until the administration found out and shut them down.

The last thing Grant Griffith would ever want in his obituary would be a resume. There is no doubt he was proud of his graduation from Jesuit High School, Class of 1971 and of his LSU degree in general business. Surely, he was a passionate chef who turned this love into a successful career as a caterer. But these accomplishments never defined him. His character far exceeded certificates or awards. Grant never met an enemy in his life. He had a heart as huge as his beloved Fairgrounds. And if Grant was your friend, he was your friend until the end of time. There was the time he was sitting with two of his friends, rocking away on a veranda sipping on a cool adult beverage when across the road he spotted a young girl struggling to push her family’s lawn mower in a Louisiana summer. This was unacceptable to Grant as he duly proceeded to cross the street to wrest the mower from the child to finish the job. These and countless similar moments defined the type of man he was. Some will say that Grant left us too soon at 73. His friends and family were not nearly done with him. But he left us all a recipe for living containing all the sauces and spices that personified a life well lived, a life that brought such joy to others. In remembering Grant, perhaps we can smile at the bittersweet ode of H.L. Mencken: “If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink at a homely girl.”

Family and friends are invited to attend a visitation on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, beginning at Noon at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70124, followed by a Memorial Mass at 3:00 p.m.