Celebrating the Life and Impact of Community Advocate Barry Grossbach

Barry Grossbach, a longtime community advocate and founding board member of University City District, sadly passed away on Thursday, December 18th, 2025 at the age of 86. Barry and his late husband Mike Hardy, who we profiled when he passed in 2021, had a deep and lasting impact in both Spruce Hill and the larger University City neighborhood through philanthropy, advocacy, and service.

Barry and Mike 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. Mike was very interested in greening, and I was very interested in saving cities.”

Barry’s idea of saving cities included serving as the president of the Spruce Hill Community Association for many years, contributing as a founding member of the Friends of Clark Park, and in the mid-90s by advocating to local institutional leaders for the formation of our organization. He served on the UCD board from our inception until his health began to falter in 2025. You can hear Barry and other founding board members recollect the formation of our organization in in this short video about the founding of University City District.

In a forthcoming piece for The Philadelphia Citizen, our president Matt Bergheiser wrote that Barry was, “One part Jane Jacobs for his commitment to small interventions that shaped city life, one part Mother Theresa for his relentless generosity, and one part Larry David for his honest and hilariously neurotic takes on everyday life, Barry was an unpretentious force of nature.  He cajoled university presidents and major real estate developers alike into supporting the little things that make neighborhoods great. And he never stopped advocating for his block, his community, and his city.” 

Among Barry and Mike’s many financial contributions to UCD over the years were gifts that helped establish our Green Team, fund beautification projects along Baltimore Avenue and elsewhere in the neighborhood, and support businesses during COVID shutdowns. In 2025, Barry made additional investments in the neighborhood to support the Clark Park plan and when he purchased a lot at 4300 Osage Avenue that he committed to preserving as green space for the community to enjoy.

Before he passed away, Barry presented UCD with a final gift of $103,000 to invest in expanding the tree canopy in University City and further his and Mike’s dreams of a greener neighborhood for all to enjoy. UCD will use the funds from Barry’s final gift to identify local properties that would benefit from street trees. When the weather allows, our Green City Works landscaping crew will then install new tree pits and plant up to 80 street trees at sites throughout the neighborhood with a focus on Spruce Hill. Barry also encouraged us to run a fundraising campaign to encourage others to donate to our organization, which we will execute as soon as we’re able.

Usually one to get his way, Barry was able to visit one final time with friends and associates at a farewell party at Renata’s Kitchen on Sunday, December 14th, just a few days before he passed. It was a grand party full of old and new friends meant to be a celebration of his and all of the attendees’ connected lives with no mournful speeches or memorials. According to his friend Bob Behr, Barry spoke about how much it meant to him to see those he cared about one last time.

Our staff and board will deeply miss Barry for his passion, his pragmatism, his deep love of the Phillies, and most of all, his friendship. We cannot thank Barry enough for his steadfast support of our organization, and we know his and Mike’s impact will be felt for many years to come.