Leonard P Granick

The Granick family is sad to announce the death of Leonard Philip Raymond Granick on December 30, 2020. He was ninety years old. He passed away at home, having just spent the holidays with his loving family. The body will be cremated and no services are planned.

Len will be remembered for his commitment to addressing racial and economic inequality in the American educational system. He grew up poor in Brooklyn, raised by his beloved single mother, Leah Dora Wiseman, during the Great Depression. His uncles were socialists, and Len was political from an early age, marching with his family in support of Social Security and labor rights.

Other than his family’s love, they didn’t have much to give to Len, so he made the most of what he had. He put himself through high school and college, started his career at the Psychiatric Institute in New York, and became a teacher at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. That is where he met his surviving wife, Judith Nina Granick neé Chaiken.

Len led the research effort for Mobilization for Youth in New York City, an organization dedicated to connecting kids in jail with education and career services following their release from incarceration. He then became the CEO of New Careers Inc., providing pathways to upward mobility for minority blue collar workers. He later took the position of Staff Director for Research and Evaluation at the Baltimore City Public Schools in Maryland, working to improve education outcomes for inner city students. Len retired from the position of Assistant Research Director for Academic Research at UMDNJ in October 2003. Len made lifelong friends during these years, people committed to social welfare that he would stay in touch with for a lifetime. He probably made a few enemies, too, at least he would like to think so. After all, if you rock the boat properly, you are going to make waves.

After retirement, he left New Jersey for Las Vegas. He said it was so that he could be nearer to his beloved daughters, Jennifer Stisa Granick and Courtney Lankford Granick, who both live in California, but really it was because he also loves gambling and food. In fact, Len had a near perfect memory for restaurants he had visited and the meals he had eaten there. And while good food was the central amusement of his life, Len was one of those rare people who is so interested in everything; he is never bored. A voracious consumer of books, movies, TV shows, and news, Len had an opinion on everything. You were welcome to disagree, but you would be wrong. And that was okay with Len, so long as you weren’t a racist or cruel.

Len leaves behind his dear wife Judith, and three children--Jennifer, Courtney, and Sean—his grandchildren--Carter, Riley, Isabella, Calista, Tre’Sean, and Christian--and many, many friendships forged over many, many years. These friends will remember him as one of kind, as the neighbor who made all the local kids call him “The Eagle” (which his grandchildren pronounced E-O), as a committed colleague who fought for young, disenfranchised, poor, and black people, and as a loving father who would do anything for his family, all while having a hell of a time.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.palmcheyenne.com for the Granick family.