Obituary for Bill Grant

Tags: ,

Wilbur J. “Bill” Grant died Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011, of natural causes in Pasadena, Calif. He was 91.

Mr. Grant was born March 17, 1919, in Harris, Minn., the second of three children of Jack William Grant and Frankie Smith Grant. He spent his childhood in Barron, Wis. He attended one year at the University of Minnesota before his parents moved to Portland. He completed his undergraduate degree in journalism at the University of Oregon in Eugene where he met his future wife of 66 years, Evelyn DiGiorgio. They married in 1940.

Mr. Grant served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and worked at a number of different jobs in California and Oregon until he joined Consolidated Freightways in Portland in 1954. He worked at Consolidated Freightways (now Con-Way) for 30 years, retiring in 1984 as vice president and director of corporate communications. Mr. Grant and the company won numerous national awards for his corporate work.

The Grants moved from Portland to Los Altos, Calif., in 1957 when Consolidated Freightways moved its headquarters to Menlo Park, Calif. They lived in Los Altos for over 30 years and were members of the Los Altos Golf and Country Club during that time. After his retirement they moved to Santa Maria, in 1989, then to Laguna Hills (Leisure World), and finally to Pasadena, Calif.

An avid golfer, he won many club tournaments and had several holes-in-one. With a single digit handicap, he was proud of shooting 78 when he was 79. He also played poker and bridge socially, and traveled worldwide. Mr. Grant is survived by his sons, Philip Grant of Pasadena and Steven Grant of North Bethesda, Md.; grandchildren, Jennifer de Guzman, Matthew Grant, Elliot Grant, Stefanie Grant and John Grant; and seven great-grandchildren.

Infinity Symbol