It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Lionel Grant Gross in Chicago on October 25, 2021 at the age of 96. Lionel was born in Sheridan, Wyoming. His studies at the University of Chicago were interrupted when he enlisted as a paratrooper and saw combat in in the Pacific during WWII. He returned to the U of C to earn a law degree, meet his wife Lois (also a graduate of U of C law, who passed away in 2006), and later join the young firm of Altheimer and Grey where he spent his entire professional life. Forever natty in his trademark bow-ties, Lionel was always eager to discuss arcane philosophy which he read voraciously, share his deep love of music, from Alban Berg to Artie Shaw, or tell a bawdy story, ideally over a Rob Roy on rocks. Lucid and optimistic to the very end, he spent his final months reading Plato's Republic, learning the computer and, in his final conversation with his daughter Susan, reciting (from memory) lines from one of his many favorite poems Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." Lionel will be deeply missed by the many friends and colleagues who had the pleasure to know him, and most especially by his beloved son and daughter, David and Susan.
