Thomas Frederick Grose

Thomas Frederick Grose, 82, born on July 21, 1930, in Long Beach, California, passed away May 24, 2013. He resided in Pasadena, California at the time of his passing. Arrangements are under the direction of Forest Lawn, Glendale, California.

Visitation at Forest Lawn, Glendale, Sunday June 2, 2013 10:00 am - 9:00 pm
Memorial Service: Monday June 3, 2013 4:00 pm
San Marino Community Church, Sanctuary
1750 Virginia Road
San Marino, California 91108
Church office: (626)-282-4181

Thomas Frederick Grose passed away from cancer on Friday, May 24, 2013. He was born in Long Beach, Calif., on July 21, 1930, to the late Frederick H. and Hazel Amland Grose. He is survived by his sister, Susan Ann Grose and her husband George T. Timberlake of Overland Park, Kan., nephews Benjamin F. Timberlake, Prishtina, Kosovo, and Christopher T. Timberlake, Carbondale, Ill., as well as his Aunt, Dorothy Gale Baldecchi, cousins Theresa B. Horgan, Bruce H. Baldecchi, Joseph W. Baldecchi, Gayle Marie Lynch, and Frank Fierce, all of Nevada, John Fierce of Arkansas, James Amland of California, and Ronald Amland of Utah.

He graduated from South Pasadena-San Marino HIgh School in 1948 as Valedictorian of his class. He entered Stanford University with the Class of 1952 and later graduated from UCLA. He became a Certified Public Accountant in 1958.

Tom had a long and successful career as a Certified Public Accountant, starting with the Ernst and Ernst accounting firm. He later went into practice on his own and continued to serve clients until October 2012.

He was a Life Member of the California Society of CPAs (CalCPA), which he joined in 1958. In 1998 he served on the Los Angeles Chapter of the Non-Profit Committee of CalCPA.

He was involved in numerous Los Angeles-area philanthropic organizations, serving on boards, and often as treasurer or accountant.

Tom was involved in the early days of the Music Center of Los Angeles County leadership as a Board member of the Music Center Operating Company. He was a long-time, generous supporter and Distinguished Patron of the Arts of all Music Center companies - L.A. Opera, L.A. Master Chorale, L.A. Philharmonic, Center Theatre Group, and Music Center Dance. He made a legacy gift to the Music Center Foundation, a symbol of his great passion for the performing arts.

Tom was a railroad and model railroad enthusiast, travelling throughout the West to ride historic lines. Among his fondest recollections was the Chama, N.M. to Antonito, Colo., narrow-gauge railroad run over Cumbres Pass and through Toltec Gorge. He donated the primary funding for the Thomas F. Grose Library and Research Center at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, Calif. He was a member of the Southern California Chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, The Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California, the Pacific Railroad Society, and the Southern California Transit Advocates.

He was active with area youth, coaching Little League baseball in San Marino for a number of years and leading church youth groups on camping trips to places as distant as Colorado, Canada, and Alaska. Tom often helped people get back on their feet after falling on hard times, offering them work and a place to stay. Some of these people became lifelong friends.

He endowed the Hazel Lillian Amland Grose Professor of Classics at Carleton College, Northfield, Minn., in honor of his mother, and the Frederick H. Grose Chair in Accounting at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. He also donated to the Joseph W. and Gale Baldecchi Scholarship Fund at the University of Nevada, Reno.

He had an enduring interest in animals and plants. He loved dogs — especially Dalmatians — and religiously kept the bird feeders in his yard stocked so nothing with feathers would go hungry. His home garden featured a wide variety of traditional and tropical garden plants and trees including Camellias, Ferns, Hydrangeas, fruit trees, and Roses some of which are over 50 years old.

Visitation at Forest Lawn, Glendale, 1712 S. Glendale Ave., 
Glendale, Calif., Sunday, June 2, 2013, 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Memorial Service Monday June 3, 2013 at 4 p.m. at San Marino Community Church, 1750 Virginia Road, San Marino, Calif.