Mourning the Loss of Longtime Community Advocate and UCD Friend Mike Hardy

For some, home is simply where you store your possessions, where you eat, and where you rest at night. For others, home is more than that--it's a physical space, yes, but it's also a small part of a larger tapestry that is your neighborhood, your community. Some of us make small impacts on the neighborhoods we live in before moving on, like a single leaf that falls onto the sidewalk before it's swept away by broom or wind. Others have an impact like a seed that nestles in the earth, is nourished, and grows into a tree. For Michael Doan Hardy, who passed away on July 19th, 2021 at the age of 84, the impact on his home community of Spruce Hill was more like a forest, sprouted like the trees he loved so dearly during his lifetime.

Mike was born in Navasota, Texas on December 28, 1936. He received his undergraduate degree from Rice University before entering the navy and being stationed in Japan. He later received a Master of Arts Degree in American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and began teaching history at Community College of Philadelphia when the college opened its doors in 1965. He spent the next 30 years at CCP alongside his colleague and eventual husband Barry Grossbach.

Mike and Barry made their home in West Philadelphia's Spruce Hill neighborhood for over 50 years. As members of the neighborhood, they devoted themselves to community activities, picking and choosing different passions to get involved with. “What we decided early on,” said Barry in a 2020 interview about his and Mike’s service in the neighborhood, “Is because we were both interested in community work based upon our own experiences, there was no reason for us to be duplicating efforts by being involved in the same kinds of things. He was very interested in greening, and I was very interested in saving cities.”

Mike was an early advocate for improving city landscapes and co-chaired the founding of the Friends of Clark Park. He also brought the love for history he displayed in his professional life home, and chaired the University City Historical Society and for many years edited the organization’s newsletter. His passion for greening led him to devote long hours to the group Baltimore Avenue in Bloom, where he and other volunteers arranged clean-ups and plantings, including receiving permission from SEPTA to plant flowers and trees along the side of the tunnel that runs from 39^th Street to the Portal. These efforts combined with Barry's role as a member of our board of directors were hugely influential in the eventual transformation of Trolley Portal Gardens at 40th and Baltimore. A few years ago the trees along the south side of Baltimore from 39th to the Portal died, and Mike and Barry donated funds to have them replaced. 

And those trees are just one small example of Mike's greening efforts in West Philadelphia, where much of our green landscape can be traced to Mike’s efforts, first with Baltimore in Bloom and later with UCGreen, where he served as chair of the board. Few things were more bothersome to Mike than empty tree pits in front of houses or businesses. "He would badger and plea with property owners to plant a tree," Barry remembers, and help connect neighbors to the Philadelphia agencies who would provide the trees to fill the empty pits. 

In 2009 Mike was honored with a Lawrence Enersen Award by the Arbor Day Foundation for his role in community-level greening efforts in West Philadelphia. When reflecting on the award, he downplayed his own contributions to instead focus on the hard work and dedication of others to help plant literally thousands of trees in the neighborhood, renewing public landscapes, and guiding block improvement projects.

"Mike was a kind, caring and wonderful soul," says UCD President Matt Bergheiser. "Behind his gentle and calm presence around University City lay a burning desire to make the neighborhood better and a deep love for his community and his neighbors.”

Although Mike's health declined in recent years, his contributions to the neighborhood and his work to make the neighborhood better continued. When he wasn't well enough to plant trees himself, he made financial donations so others could plant on his behalf, at the Trolley Portal, along Spruce Hill streets, and elsewhere. In 2020 as the pandemic put huge financial strains on local small businesses, Mike and Barry made multiple gifts to UCD with instructions for us to use the money to provide support through efforts like our Community Group Fund and our Rediscover West Philly campaign. They couldn't stand to see the community they loved suffer. 

If conditions allow, there will be a celebration of Mike’s life this fall in a botanical setting. Anyone wishing to make a contribution in Mike’s name is encouraged to contact your local greening or environmental group. Or better yet, honor his legacy by getting down, digging into the soil, and planting a tree in his honor, so that the many seeds he planted over the years can continue growing.