Community Advocate Barry Grossbach Provides Gift for Local Tree Canopy

Barry Grossbach’s latest gift to UCD will be used to plant up to 80 new street trees.

Today, we at UCD are again expressing our sincere gratitude to Barry Grossbach for another significant gift to our organization. Barry, a UCD founding board member and extremely committed community advocate, has gifted us $103,000 to invest in expanding the tree canopy in University City and further his dream of a greener neighborhood for all to enjoy. Barry and his late husband Mike Hardy have been longtime and generous advocates of our efforts to green the neighborhood, and their many previous contributions to UCD have helped establish and fund our Green Team, been used on beautification projects along Baltimore Avenue and elsewhere in the neighborhood, and supported businesses during COVID shutdowns.

UCD will use the funds from Barry’s latest gift to identify 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’s home for over 50 years. In addition to support for UCD, Barry has also recently provided a significant donation to support the Clark Park plan and purchased a lot at 4300 Osage Avenue that he has committed to preserving as green space for the community to enjoy.

We cannot thank Barry enough for his steadfast support of our organization since our inception. Stay tuned for details in the new year on how you can match Barry’s commitment to greening our neighborhood.