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September 9, 2018
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Wednesday, September 12, 2018 from 3:00 – 5:30 PM.
A Funeral Service will immediately follow the time of visitation and begin in the funeral home at 5:30 PM.
Robert A. Gross, age 82, of Wayne, passed away peacefully at home with his loving family by his side, on Sunday, September 9, 2018.
Born in Paterson, Bob was raised there on Lily Street. An interesting character already at a young age and with a heart as big as his personality, he attended and ultimately graduated from Don Bosco Technical High School in Paterson where he specialized in two things: woodworking and seeing how many days he could cut by telling his parents that “There was no school today because of the religious holiday for ______________” (and he’d fill in the blank with whatever he saw on his Catholic school’s calendar – even if it wasn’t an official day off from school).
After high school, Bob got his first job at the A&P Grocery Store in Pompton Lakes where his father was a supervisor. It was there that he met the love of his life. Her name was Margaret Gilmartin and it was love at first sight. Marriage would have to wait while Bob went off to Germany where he proudly served for two years in the U.S. Army. Even before returning from service he had proposed to Marge long distance and had her ring sent to her from Germany. Soon after returning, he and Marge made their wedding vows to each other on Sunday, November 17, 1957 at St. Paul’s Church in Prospect Park. Right after the wedding festivities were over, Marge needed an emergency appendectomy so, while the honeymoon never happened, the sixty years of their marriage was pretty-much like a honeymoon! They moved to Wayne in 1967 where they had resided for the rest of Bob’s life.
Bob settled into adulthood by celebrating the arrival of two daughters and a son. He continued to work for the A&P - in fact, he worked exclusively for the company his entire career. For many years, like his father before him, he worked as a merchandiser for the tristate area stores. The job brought lots of perks in a day and age when it was lawful for companies to seek to entice guys like Bob to dedicate vast amount of shelf space to their products. Bob always enjoyed going to work and the benefits from vendors like free tickets to Broadway shows (he was going as much as twice a month), multiple free trips with Marge and the kids to Disney World, season tickets to the New York Mets, unending samples of food, and even a tour of the orange groves at Tropicana, made it even more rewarding and fun! As his working years were winding down, Bob worked the dairy department close to home in the former A&P store on the corner of Valley and Preakness Avenue.
Bob had a personality as big as Texas. He was happiest and most energized in the company of family and friends. Consequently, he loved a good party and the Gross residence was party central for all the major holidays. Of course, you can’t have a good gathering without good food. No problem! Bob had that angle covered too. You see, Bob was the resident cook. He loved cooking and it was a hobby he practiced constantly. Family favorites included his homemade tomato sauce and his chicken parmigiana with spaghetti, which was so delicious, it would have Italian chefs wondering how this Hungarian pulled it off so well! Bob had a couple of his own personal favorites including something he called Roly Poly’s and Nookle Soup, both of which his family considered to be just plain yucky. A man who embraced, as he would say, “TA-dition”…..every year for Halloween, he made something he simply called Casserole. As great a cook as he was, sometimes he was just as happy with a trip to Burger King for a Whopper, Jr. and, if he was in the mood for lobster, he’d think nothing of driving to Maine to get the best.
The most important things in Bob’s life were loving and being with his entire family and having a good time. He had a great gift for combining these two loves and sometimes it made for some pretty interesting and humorous scenarios. In the early years, when his kids were growing up, the family gathered every summer in a home they rented down the shore on Joseph Street in Lavallette. Near this house was the Colonial Bakery which had a good customer in the Gross’s. The Lavallette tradition passed with time but Bob was always delighted in later years when his granddaughter Dawn would visit and bring him a crumb cake from that favorite bakery. Bob loved the ocean and times at the Jersey shore often included deep sea fishing trips in Point Pleasant with his son-in-law Dan. On these trips Bob gave new meaning to the concept of bringing his own chum. The chum came in the form of pickled pimento sandwiches which began as a delicious lunch which he thoroughly enjoyed. Eventually the waves of the ocean would make Bob sick enough to throw up over the side of the boat, attracting the fish for the catch of the day. Then there was the time he and Marge were vacationing in Aruba with his daughter Cathy and son-in-law Larry. Sitting on the beach one day, they all realized they were on a topless beach. Not wanting to be an obvious gawker, Bob ingeniously cut two peep holes in his newspaper and held it in front of his face pretending to read. He waited all day to see his first topless sun bather – an extremely elderly woman, prompting an exclamation Bob was known to use on many other occasions – “Why me?” After retiring from the A&P Bob and Marge took numerous cruises and got to travel through much of Europe including Austria, Germany, The Netherlands and other countries. He also took his whole family, including grandchildren, in a rented motor home, traveling together to Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort.
Bob adored his grandchildren and it wasn’t uncommon for him to try to play practical jokes on them. For example, while taking care of his grandson Zach, he tried to engineer the old bucket-full-of water-over-the-door trick to get Zach soaked when he returned home from school. Unfortunately Zach saw the bucket. Determined to win though, Bob tried it again another time only to somehow become the wet recipient of his own shenanigans. He got such a kick out of his grandson Danny too who, as a little child, was always trying to help Grandpa but, as kids will do when they’re little, was actually making more work for Bob. And then there’s his granddaughter Leiha who Bob always claimed was his favorite grandchild. It was a standing joke within the family, but Bob never denied it.
Bob’s love of life and loving devotion to his family and friends alike was awesome! He lived a full life and in the process, filled the lives of those he knew with memories they will cherish and laugh about for the rest of their lives.
Bob was the beloved husband of Margaret – blessed in marriage for 60 years; loving father of Mary and husband Dan Meyer of Wayne, Cathy and husband Larry Burke of Sinking Springs, PA, and the late Robert Gross (2000); adored grandfather of Leiha and husband Mike, Dawn and husband Aaron, Daniel, and Zach; cherished great-grandfather of Dennis, Michael, Vanna, and Quinn; dear brother of Eleanor Gross of Hudson, FL, and Joseph and wife Susan Gross of Canton, GA; and dear uncle of Lisa and Christine.
In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Robert’s name are asked to consider Wounded Warrior Project, PO Box 758517, Topeka, KS 66675 (www.WoundedWarriorProject.org).
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Wednesday, September 12, 2018 from 3:00 – 5:30 PM.
A Funeral Service will immediately follow the time of visitation and begin in the funeral home at 5:30 PM.
September 9, 2018
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Wednesday, September 12, 2018 from 3:00 – 5:30 PM.
A Funeral Service will immediately follow the time of visitation and begin in the funeral home at 5:30 PM.
Robert A. Gross, age 82, of Wayne, passed away peacefully at home with his loving family by his side, on Sunday, September 9, 2018.
Born in Paterson, Bob was raised there on Lily Street. An interesting character already at a young age and with a heart as big as his personality, he attended and ultimately graduated from Don Bosco Technical High School in Paterson where he specialized in two things: woodworking and seeing how many days he could cut by telling his parents that “There was no school today because of the religious holiday for ______________” (and he’d fill in the blank with whatever he saw on his Catholic school’s calendar – even if it wasn’t an official day off from school).
After high school, Bob got his first job at the A&P Grocery Store in Pompton Lakes where his father was a supervisor. It was there that he met the love of his life. Her name was Margaret Gilmartin and it was love at first sight. Marriage would have to wait while Bob went off to Germany where he proudly served for two years in the U.S. Army. Even before returning from service he had proposed to Marge long distance and had her ring sent to her from Germany. Soon after returning, he and Marge made their wedding vows to each other on Sunday, November 17, 1957 at St. Paul’s Church in Prospect Park. Right after the wedding festivities were over, Marge needed an emergency appendectomy so, while the honeymoon never happened, the sixty years of their marriage was pretty-much like a honeymoon! They moved to Wayne in 1967 where they had resided for the rest of Bob’s life.
Bob settled into adulthood by celebrating the arrival of two daughters and a son. He continued to work for the A&P - in fact, he worked exclusively for the company his entire career. For many years, like his father before him, he worked as a merchandiser for the tristate area stores. The job brought lots of perks in a day and age when it was lawful for companies to seek to entice guys like Bob to dedicate vast amount of shelf space to their products. Bob always enjoyed going to work and the benefits from vendors like free tickets to Broadway shows (he was going as much as twice a month), multiple free trips with Marge and the kids to Disney World, season tickets to the New York Mets, unending samples of food, and even a tour of the orange groves at Tropicana, made it even more rewarding and fun! As his working years were winding down, Bob worked the dairy department close to home in the former A&P store on the corner of Valley and Preakness Avenue.
Bob had a personality as big as Texas. He was happiest and most energized in the company of family and friends. Consequently, he loved a good party and the Gross residence was party central for all the major holidays. Of course, you can’t have a good gathering without good food. No problem! Bob had that angle covered too. You see, Bob was the resident cook. He loved cooking and it was a hobby he practiced constantly. Family favorites included his homemade tomato sauce and his chicken parmigiana with spaghetti, which was so delicious, it would have Italian chefs wondering how this Hungarian pulled it off so well! Bob had a couple of his own personal favorites including something he called Roly Poly’s and Nookle Soup, both of which his family considered to be just plain yucky. A man who embraced, as he would say, “TA-dition”…..every year for Halloween, he made something he simply called Casserole. As great a cook as he was, sometimes he was just as happy with a trip to Burger King for a Whopper, Jr. and, if he was in the mood for lobster, he’d think nothing of driving to Maine to get the best.
The most important things in Bob’s life were loving and being with his entire family and having a good time. He had a great gift for combining these two loves and sometimes it made for some pretty interesting and humorous scenarios. In the early years, when his kids were growing up, the family gathered every summer in a home they rented down the shore on Joseph Street in Lavallette. Near this house was the Colonial Bakery which had a good customer in the Gross’s. The Lavallette tradition passed with time but Bob was always delighted in later years when his granddaughter Dawn would visit and bring him a crumb cake from that favorite bakery. Bob loved the ocean and times at the Jersey shore often included deep sea fishing trips in Point Pleasant with his son-in-law Dan. On these trips Bob gave new meaning to the concept of bringing his own chum. The chum came in the form of pickled pimento sandwiches which began as a delicious lunch which he thoroughly enjoyed. Eventually the waves of the ocean would make Bob sick enough to throw up over the side of the boat, attracting the fish for the catch of the day. Then there was the time he and Marge were vacationing in Aruba with his daughter Cathy and son-in-law Larry. Sitting on the beach one day, they all realized they were on a topless beach. Not wanting to be an obvious gawker, Bob ingeniously cut two peep holes in his newspaper and held it in front of his face pretending to read. He waited all day to see his first topless sun bather – an extremely elderly woman, prompting an exclamation Bob was known to use on many other occasions – “Why me?” After retiring from the A&P Bob and Marge took numerous cruises and got to travel through much of Europe including Austria, Germany, The Netherlands and other countries. He also took his whole family, including grandchildren, in a rented motor home, traveling together to Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort.
Bob adored his grandchildren and it wasn’t uncommon for him to try to play practical jokes on them. For example, while taking care of his grandson Zach, he tried to engineer the old bucket-full-of water-over-the-door trick to get Zach soaked when he returned home from school. Unfortunately Zach saw the bucket. Determined to win though, Bob tried it again another time only to somehow become the wet recipient of his own shenanigans. He got such a kick out of his grandson Danny too who, as a little child, was always trying to help Grandpa but, as kids will do when they’re little, was actually making more work for Bob. And then there’s his granddaughter Leiha who Bob always claimed was his favorite grandchild. It was a standing joke within the family, but Bob never denied it.
Bob’s love of life and loving devotion to his family and friends alike was awesome! He lived a full life and in the process, filled the lives of those he knew with memories they will cherish and laugh about for the rest of their lives.
Bob was the beloved husband of Margaret – blessed in marriage for 60 years; loving father of Mary and husband Dan Meyer of Wayne, Cathy and husband Larry Burke of Sinking Springs, PA, and the late Robert Gross (2000); adored grandfather of Leiha and husband Mike, Dawn and husband Aaron, Daniel, and Zach; cherished great-grandfather of Dennis, Michael, Vanna, and Quinn; dear brother of Eleanor Gross of Hudson, FL, and Joseph and wife Susan Gross of Canton, GA; and dear uncle of Lisa and Christine.
In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Robert’s name are asked to consider Wounded Warrior Project, PO Box 758517, Topeka, KS 66675 (www.WoundedWarriorProject.org).
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