Eugene Grossi, 66, business owner

Eugene J. Grossi, 66, of Southampton, a a company president and former president of the board of Centennial School District, died of complications from pneumonia Monday at Abington Memorial Hospital.

At 16, Mr. Grossi began working part time for the structural steel company his father, Samuel, established in Philadelphia in 1946. He continued to work for the firm while earning bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from Drexel University.

For more than 40 years, he headed Samuel Grossi & Sons, now in Bensalem. His brother, Robert, is the firm's vice president; his son Eugene Jr. is director of engineering; and his son John is director of finance. The firm has furnished and installed steel frames for more than 1,000 local buildings including Citizens Bank Park, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Independence Visitor Center.

Mr. Grossi was an employer representative on the pension and welfare board of Ironworkers Local Union 502.

A native of Mayfair, he and his wife, Elaine LaMazza Grossi, moved to Southampton in 1964, the year after they married. A former basketball player and star football player at Lincoln High School, he coached the Southampton Knights and the Willow Grove Bears youth football teams while his sons were growing up and was a volunteer assistant football coach at William Tennent High School in Warminster.

Since the 1970s, Mr. Grossi had been active in the Centennial School District. He was a consultant for the district on the construction of William Tennent High School in 1973, and in 1975 he won his first election to the Centennial school board. For 22 years he served on the board and chaired labor relations and finance committees. He also served several terms as board president. He was former chairman of the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology, a career development and technology center.

An ardent golfer, Mr. Grossi shot a hole-in-one at Huntingdon Valley Country Club in 2001, where he had been a member since 1969. He was a longtime Eagles season-ticket holder and never lost faith in the team, his wife said. He loved sports cars, she said, especially Corvettes, and played excellent gin rummy.

In addition to his wife, sons, and brother, Mr. Grossi is survived by his mother, Nancy Grossi, and seven grandchildren.

A Funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m tomorrow at Gloria Dei Church, 570 Welsh Rd., Huntingdon Valley. Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Helweg Funeral Home, 463 Old York Rd., Jenkintown. Burial will be in Sunset Memorial Park, Feasterville.