William (Bill) Black Grant died peacefully from natural causes on May 26^th 2020.  He was dearly beloved by extended family and many good friends.  Bill is survived by his wife, Mary Grant who he married in 2011 & six children of his deceased wives, Ann Snyder Grant and Pat Pearson Grant.  His children are Liz LeClair(John) from Denver, CO, Taybee Pauly(Tod) from Manitowoc, WI, Susan Grant(Robert) from Montclair, NJ, Lynn Grant Beck(Devon) from Malibu, CA, Will Grant from Sarasota, FL and Carrie Berman(Marc) from Parkland, FL.  Bill has sixteen grandchildren, and seven great grandsons with two more on the way.     

Bill’s parents, Beatrice Inglefield Grant and Alexander (Sandy) Black Grant, came to America in 1920 from Prestatyn, Wales in Great Britain.  Bill had three older sisters.

Bill attended Montclair Academy & loved the Boy Scouts and was an Eagle Scout.

He qualified for officer candidate school and attended Vanderbilt Univ & the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1949 from the Wharton School of Business. He married his first wife, Ann Snyder, in 1950.  They lived in Upper Montclair, NJ.  He was called to active duty in the Navy for the Korean War and served in Nouasseur, Morocco until 1955.   Ann passed away and Bill remarried Patricia (Pat) Pearson in 1966.   Bill left his job at Standard Oil to start his own business, Safeguard Business Systems in 1963.  He served as a Commissioner for Montclair and as chairman of the Conservative Caucus for the state of New Jersey.  He ran for the US House of Representatives in 1974, but was defeated.

In 1976 the family moved to Palm Springs, California, where they lived until 1985 while Bill commuted to NJ.  They moved to Ridgewood, NJ for Bill to once again run for Congress in 1986.  In 1994 after selling Safeguard, they headed to Sarasota, Florida where Pat & Bill had a beautiful home on Sarasota Bay.   Pat died of a stroke in 2008.   Although Bill retired in Florida, he never really slowed down.  He started Grant’s Russian Experience School & other ventures.  Bill was a former president and active member of the Sarasota Ivy League Club & he founded their Economics Club.  He was Volunteer of the year of the Manatee County Republican Party in 2010.  Bill was a member of the Conservative Coalition of Central Fl & he represented the Mises Institute to that organization.   Bill always had strong political opinions, loved New Jersey, his country & the Republican party. You could see Bill out jogging & later walking almost every morning.  He loved the Appalachian mountain club & he belonged to & hiked with them for years.  He had a love of nature and served on the board of the amazing Presby Memorial Iris Gardens in Montclair.

Condolences may be shared online at www.millenniumcremationservice.com.