Beach Cities Health District
View honors Grossman with memorial garden
Carol Weiss-Fleischer lost her brother, Dr. Robert Grossman, last July, when he succumbed to severe head injuries following a traumatic fall. It’s a loss that she says still staggers her and her family.
But his spirit lives on, she says, even at the hot dog line at Costco, where his memory drove her away from grabbing a quick, two dollar bite.
“I’m telling you, I wanted to act out! I wanted to say ‘no, Robbie, I’m going to do it!,’ but I didn’t,” she said, laughing. “I didn’t want to make him mad.”
Weiss-Fleischer was one of many in attendance at Hermosa View School for the dedication of a student garden, created in Grossman’s honor by the Beach Cities Health District and the Dr. Grossman Memorial Fund.
A retired cardiologist, Grossman was twice elected to BCHD’s board of directors.
Grossman, who was 67, fully understood BCHD’s mission, said District CEO Susan Burden. “He saw what what this community would look like, if we were to get preventable, progressive health diseases under control,” she said.
Among those keys is nutritional education, and importantly, stopping obesity in childhood.
“Research has shown that schools with school gardens have students more likely to eat fruits and vegetables,” said Dr. Denise Bevly, BCHD’s senior manager of Youth Services.
The garden will be used primarily for nutritional and garden education, though View Principal Sylvia Gluck said it may also be used to source the school’s salad bar.
“I think he’d be very pleased with this — more than any other kind of hoopla, or big event,” Weiss-Fleischer said. “I think this idea that life breeds life is what he wanted.” ER
