Warren J. Grosjean

Warren J. Grosjean, age 97, of Pines Lake in Wayne, NJ, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by loved ones on Sunday, September 12, 2021.

Born and raised in Staten Island, NY, Warren graduated from Tottenville High School with the class of 1941. He went on to study further at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While at M.I.T. he enlisted in the U.S. Navy to support this country's efforts during World War II. Warren served stateside from 1944 to 1945 and, upon return to civilian life, he finished his course of study at M.I.T. and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. Always an enthusiastic and driven worker, Warren worked for various companies including Honeywell before enjoying a long career with Schick/Warner Lambert as an engineer and quality control manager. While with Schick he lived in Framingham, Massachusetts and Trumbull, Connecticut before relocating to Pines Lake in Wayne, New Jersey. In 1975, at the age of 52, he retired from Schick/Warner Lambert so that he could spend more time with his family. He took on consulting for other blade manufacturers and began development of a dry system for surgical prep shaving with the objective of avoiding infection prior to surgery. Thus, he started his own business - Derma-Safe, out of his home in Wayne. Employing his very young son Paul (9 YRS OLD) he built a successful business, developing products for hospital use and for the department of defense (DOD). Warren employed several people over the years making his products. Paul went off to get an engineering degree, and after graduating and working for a few years was asked to come back to take over the business. Together they developed another product line for environmentally safe lake weed control, which has been used all over the world. Warren and Paul continued as business partners for the rest of Warren's life, keeping the business in his home so he could remain involved in day to day activities.  

Warren’s father was an importer and exporter whose work required extensive travel. In those travels, he developed an interest in stamp collecting which he’d bring home and share with his son Warren. This kindled a love of stamp collecting in Warren that would become life-long. Warren had stamps from all over the world but Scandinavian stamps became his specialty and, as a result, he won many awards including top honors at respected stamp shows. Warren was always a man who liked to play as hard as he liked to work. When his children were growing up, snow skiing trips to Vermont became a family tradition. Skiing until he was 88 years old, his love of skiing was also life-long and always competitive. In fact, at age 82 he won a gold medal at the national Nastar competition at Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He loved sailing with his beloved fraternity brothers around Martha’s Vineyard, the British Virgin Islands and even as far as the Greek islands.  His 1931 Ford Model A was proudly driven around town on special occasions. On the home front, Warren would relieve stress by working on his vegetable garden or he’d go out looking for fresh Mushrooms, which he would have in his eggs daily. He was also a dog lover, having several over the years.

Warren was the most beloved “Pop-Pop” to his seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He loved to share his wisdom and inspire them and encourage them with stories and advice. He was so proud of their hard work, and he was always reminding them of how important they were. Forty years ago, Warren met a dear woman named Gerda Wittlinger. They became lifelong companions, going on travel adventures, playing tennis, bowling, and enjoying family events. She was the love of his life and well adored as “Oma” by all of his grandchildren and great grandchildren.    

Warren’s presence always lit up the room. He simply loved people! He loved making friends and complete strangers laugh. He was the life of the party. A member of Sigma Phi while at M.I.T., Warren made friendships with his fraternity brothers that he was able to enjoy his entire life. He valued those friendships with his fraternity brother and their families deeply and cherished all of the memories of their adventures.  Always seeking the best in people, he liked to believe that people are generally good, but if you weren’t, he’d have no problem telling you. Warren would even regularly pick up hitchhikers because he felt maybe they would pay it forward. Always hungry to improve and better the quality of the human condition, as recently as two weeks ago he exclaimed with great passion, “We’ve got to find something better that will truly conquer cancer!”  Such was his hunger for life, until his passing, he still was working on a product idea and was still saying, “I’ve got so much to do!”

Warren was the father of his son Warren Grosjean, Jr. (predeceased 2013) and wife Ann and their two children Phillip Grosjean and Marie Claire Grosjean of Honeoye Falls, NY, his son Wayne Grosjean (predeceased 2016) and his three children Emma Grosjean, Leah Grosjean, and Johnny Grosjean, his daughter Beth McKinnon and partner Ann of Hanover, NH, his daughter Lynn Warner (predeceased 2013) and husband John and their two children Jenn Miller and husband Brian and their children Jackson and Avery, and Stacey Graf and husband Dan and their children Cheyenne, Cole and Breiah, and his son Paul Grojean and wife Kim and their children Casey and Jake. Warren was the uncle of Dianne Thornton and Susan Nicole, and great-uncle of Lucas Lécuyer. Additionally, Warren was the husband of Joy Mary Grosjean (predeceased 2005) and brother of Arthur Grosjean (predeceased 2008). He was the long-time partner of Gerda Wittlinger of Wayne, NJ and is also survived by Gerda’s family including: Gerda’s son Mark Wittlinger and Allison Vallinino and their children Katherine and Margo, Gerda’s daughter Eva Wittlinger and her daughter Jessica Pichl, and Gerda’s son Frank Wittlinger and wife Beth.

In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Warren’s name are asked to consider donating to a charter school that is close to Warren’s family’s heart:
Richland School of Academic Arts
1456 Park Ave West, Mansfield, OH  44906
(419) 522 7273