Bernard Granor, retired attorney, Realtor, and innovative homebuilder, has died at 97
He was called “a serial entrepreneur” by his family, and his son Marshal said: “He was not afraid to try new things.”
Bernard Granor, 97, of Philadelphia, retired partner for the Granor & Granor law firm, Realtor for Granor & Co., homebuilder for Granor Price Homes, community activist, and volunteer, died Friday, May 16, of age-associated ailments at Ann’s Choice senior living community in Warminster.
A lifelong Philadelphian, Mr. Granor was called “a serial entrepreneur” by his family, and his portfolio also included a mortgage brokerage and title insurance company. He was a single-person home construction innovator and a pioneer of business consolidation, and he worked closely over five decades with his parents, Charles and Esther, and then his sons Marshal and Sheldon.
“He was not afraid to try new things,” his son Marshal said.
In the early 1950s, with a law degree from Temple University, Mr. Granor noticed a boom in real estate sales. So he opened a realty company in the basement of his parents’ house in Fern Rock. Eventually, he employed his father as a broker and mother as an administrator.
In the late 1960s, he perceived a need for single-person, maintenance-free housing in the suburbs. So he and his sons partnered with builder Stuart Price and his son in 1970 to form Granor Price Homes.
Specializing in condominiums and townhouses, the Granors acquired the land and marketed the homes, and the Prices built them. By 2002, Mr. Granor said in 2003, they employed about 35 people, had sales of about $29 million, and averaged about 125 sales per year.
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“In real estate, they say you either go broke or retire in 10 years,” he told The Inquirer. “Well, I guess I’m a survivor.”
His businesses were featured often in The Inquirer and Daily News, and he wrote letters to the editor about the economy and the home building industry. He taught real estate classes at Pennsylvania State University’s Abington campus and was president of the Northwest chapter of the Philadelphia Board of Realtors and the Homebuilders Association of Bucks and Montgomery Counties.
He semiretired in the early 2000s but, rebranding himself as an investor and consultant, still went to the office daily. “You have to take a step back,” he told The Inquirer, “and let the younger people run the business.”
Mr. Granor routinely saw opportunities to make a difference in his community, too. He cofounded the Hebrew Free Loan Society of Greater Philadelphia to provide interest-free loans to needy borrowers and the United Brokers Mortgage Co. to help underserved people buy houses. “Bernard built his career and life around helping others achieve the gift of home ownership,” his family said.
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He was president of the West Oak Lane Jewish Community Center and on boards at Beth Sholom Congregation, the Lower Bucks County chapter of the American Red Cross, the Pennsylvania Prison Society, and other organizations.
He was named builder of the year in Bucks and Montgomery Counties, earned a humanitarian award from Beth Sholom Congregation in 2010, and was the 2004 Lower Bucks County Red Cross Citizen of the Year. “He was smart, likable, and passionate about people,” his family said.
Bernard Granor was born Feb. 14, 1928, in Philadelphia. His family moved frequently during the Great Depression, and he graduated from Central High School in 1946.
He attended Drexel University for a year and considered engineering. Instead, he transferred to Temple and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1951 and a law degree in 1953.
He knew Marie Brichta from their childhoods in Logan, and they reconnected later and married in 1954. They had sons Marshal and Sheldon and a daughter, Alicia, and lived in Fern Rock and Mount Airy.
Mr. Granor enjoyed fishing trips with family and friends, and they traveled to Europe, Israel, Canada, and the Caribbean Islands. He went to high school reunions, and played poker, blackjack, table tennis, and pool with his children and grandchildren.
Friends noted his “sense of charity” and ability to sustain personal relationships in tributes. “His overriding passion was to do things by example and to give back more than he took,” his family said. “Most important, take care of those you don’t know.”
His son Marshal said: “He really never sought fame and glory. You don’t find his name on buildings. But he is in the hearts of many.”
In addition to his wife and children, Mr. Granor is survived by four grandchildren and other relatives.
Services were held May 19.
Donations in his name may be made to the Hebrew Free Loan Society of Greater Philadelphia, Box 298, Wynnewood, Pa. 19096; and the Bernard and Marie Granor Endowment Fund at Temple University, Conwell Hall, 7th Floor, 1801 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19122.