February 18, 1979 – August 14, 2018
Gerhard Martin Gross, born Sunday, February 18, 1979 in Calgary, AB, died on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 in Beverly Hills, CA, after a 1-year, 7-month and 9-day loving effort to heal himself of gastric cancer. Gerhard has been a member of the communities of McBride, B.C., Bella Coola, B.C., Whistler, B.C., Toronto, ON, and most recently, Vista, California. He transitioned out of his body, surrounded by his family who loved him and his medical team who cared for him, at 6:35 p.m. He is survived by his wife, Kristen Gross (née Lake), his son Gerhard Mark Gross, his father, Gerhard Herbert Gross, his mother Christine Gertrude Gross (née Fleschhut), and his brothers Reinholt Gross and Adlar Gross. On his wife’s side, he is survived by his father-in-law Mark Lake; mother-in-law Sheree Lake (née Horton); sister-in-law Kimberley Lake and her husband, brother-in-law Bryan Mombourquette; and his nieces (their children), Ella and Clara Mombourquette.
After an idyllic childhood in the woods and nature of British Columbia, he followed his dreams and carried his values to Whistler where he achieved his goal to snowboard professionally. He augmented those aspirations by growing into a talented writer and journalist; a spark was lit with Gnarcore—the media company and movement he started with his friends—and his career took off with Snowboard Canada Magazine, then reached new heights with TransWorld SNOWboarding and finally, the Dew Tour. It was his promise to himself that “career” would mean being paid to work creatively. It’s a promise he kept, passionately and skillfully.
Gerhard married Kristen on March 15, 2013 in Toronto, ON, and they made their home in southern California shortly afterwards. On May 31, 2016, they became parents to Gerhard Mark Gross, a healthy baby boy who changed their world and brought them joy, together. They often spoke of the many adventures in the outdoors that they looked forward to sharing as a family.
Gerhard was always concerned with ideas larger than any one person, especially democracy, socio-economics, the environment, and any matter that brings with it the suffering of others, in particular, health and food issues. His compassion for people grew with each personal challenge he faced. His ability to connect with other people through conversation, creativity, and idea-sharing is legendary. He was always a believer in finding common ground, and de-escalating a situation to bring people together behind a happy medium.
It was Gerhard’s wish that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to compassionate organizations of meaning to you. If you do not have one in mind, we suggest Protect Our Winters, and Debbie’s Dream Foundation. Some of Gerhard’s final thoughts were that, “we should really just try to do as much good in the world as possible.” He asked, “what else is there?”
Gerhard wanted to thank family and friends for their extraordinary love and support. He also wanted to thank the many medical and health teams who helped us navigate his illness beyond all expectations. These include local holistic providers in Chinese medicine, meditation, nutrition and movement. And they include the most-wonderful doctors, nurses and social workers at City of Hope, The Angeles Clinic, and finally, Cedars Sinai Medical Center.
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