Obituary
Vincent Gerard Grassi II passed away on May 3, 2020 from esophageal cancer in The Villages, FL. He was at 64. Vince was born in Geneva, NY in 1956 and lived in Scottsville, NY from 1958-1978. He graduated from McQuaid Jesuit High School in Rochester, NY in 1974 and from the University of Rochester in 1978 with a BS in Chemical Engineering.
Vince worked at Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. in Allentown, PA in various engineering and management roles from 1978 to 2013. During that time he completed his MS (1985) and PhD (1991) in Chemical Engineering at Lehigh University. He retired from Air Products in 2013 and then accepted an appointment as a Professor of Practice in Chemical Engineering at Lehigh University, where he taught until passing away. Some of Vince’s hobbies included winter sports, hiking, cycling, photography, Bridge, sailing and genealogy. Vince is survived by his wife Kimberly, daughter Christine, and sister Susan.
He will be greatly missed.
I’m saddened to hear Vince passed away. I meet Vince @ Lehigh University. I drive Access LU Bus. I had lots of nice conversations with him, when I picked & dropped him off. The one day he forgot his coffee mug. He asked me if he could go back & get it. So when I pick him up now, I would ask him if he has his mug. He was very nice guy. RIP VINCE.
A born Teacher and love for process-driven approaches, his leadership and conviction to its importance defined the Knowledge Management movement which was way before the currently accepted Continuous Improvement (CI) -- and even harder to create the necessary step change, which required all of Vince’s innate tenacity! He was an important Mentor in my work-life and got me started on creating what became my signature, merging After Action Reviews and Lessons Learned into a successful face-to-face and Virtual process until my own retirement in 2016.
I now imagine Vince in the afterlife, very curious on how that process works and now able to ask those questions of his Creator and rest in his search for continuous enlightenment. Rest in Peace, Vince... and sending love and hugs to both Kim and Christine.
Lynne & Jack Roth