Melvin Issach Gross

On May 19, 2022, Melvin Isaac Gross left our family after a brief illness.  He started life in The Bronx, New York, on March 20, 1934, as the second oldest child of Samuel Isaac and Mary Frances (Van Zandt) Gross.  He grew up in The Bronx and left to join the Air Force in 1954, where he was stationed in Hokkaido, Japan.  In 1958 he courted – in competition with brother Harvey -- and  won the hand of Ada Seto, and they married and moved to Miami, Florida in 1958.

Mel was always a keen observer of people, which served him well as a police officer in Miami, where he worked as a beat cop until he finished night school for court reporting.  He and a partner established a freelance firm in Miami and worked in Miami until moving to Columbia, South Carolina to take a position as a federal official in the Fifth Circuit Court in 1978.  ln 1985 he and Ada moved to the Boston area and Mel worked in Boston and in Worcester, MA, as a freelance court reporter until 2010. After retiring, Mel joined a softball league on Cape Cod.  This would lead to a move to Sebring, FL, where he could play softball year around, and Mel played and worked on establishing a wooden bat league until finally hanging up his glove in 2015.

Mel’s love of puns, bad jokes, riddles and practical jokes is the stuff of legend in our family.  Some of the more memorable pranks involve Tootsie Rolls, a stuffed Snickelfritz cat, a mounted deer head, and a plastic alligator.  His kids and grandkids can fill in the details.  Mel was passionate about opera, a lover of classical music, avid reader, prolific letter writer, history buff, and he never failed to find the humor or the irony in just about every situation.   He was also a master storyteller, and he could make a friend almost anywhere he went.   He loved words, spoke several languages fluently, and could get by in a few more.  Those of us who followed him into court reporting call him the “King of Briefs.”  He enjoyed being a reporter and sharing “war stories” with other reporters.

Mel is preceded in death by his parents; his brothers Buddy Hollander and Harvey Gross, and son Ronald Gross.  He is survived by his wife Ada; his brother Ken and wife Andrea Gross of New York; son Mitchell and wife Robin Gross of Houston, Texas; his daughter Lisa Gross; and grandchildren Rachel Gross (Mack Tyler III), Sarah Gross (Connor) Houghton, Evan Gross and Emily Gross; and grandchildren Austin DiBari and Olivia DiBari of Eastham, MA. In lieu of flowers, thank you for donating to support the Center for Great Apes, at Center@CenterforGreatApes.org .

Arrangements entrusted to:
Stephenson-Nelson Funeral Home
4001 Sebring Parkway
Sebring, FL 33870
Online condolences may be left at:
www.stephensonnelsonfh.com