A. Richard Grossman, M.D., FACS
FOUNDER - GROSSMAN BURN CENTERS
Dr. A. Richard Grossman, founder of the renowned Grossman Burn Center, was an internationally recognized plastic surgeon and a pioneer in the comprehensive treatment of burn injuries.
In 1958, while serving as an emergency room resident at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Dr. Grossman treated victims of a catastrophic fire at Our Lady of Angels parochial elementary school, which claimed the lives of 93 children and four nuns. The experience had a profound effect on Dr. Grossman and was a driving force behind his vision to create a world class comprehensive burn treatment facility dedicated to providing the best burn care anywhere.
Dr. Grossman moved to Los Angeles and set about to achieve that vision. In 1969, he convinced Sherman Oaks Community Hospital to devote two beds exclusively to burn care. By 1978, the burn center had expanded into a free-standing, 30 bed specialty unit that was recognized as the largest and most comprehensive burn centers in the world. In 1995, Dr. Grossman was joined in practice by his son, Dr. Peter H. Grossman. Together, father, son and the outstanding team of health care professionals have restored the lives of literally thousands of burn victims.
Dr. Grossman was a graduate of Emory University and The University of Tennessee Medical School. He served as the President of the Los Angeles Society of Plastic Surgeons for eight years and as a member of many honorary societies. He also authored or co-authored over 35 articles in medical journals, and written or contributed to six text books.
Throughout his career, Dr. Grossman treated and restored the lives of thousands of patients—firefighters, children, celebrities and patients from all over the world who travelled to Los Angeles to seek his care. Dr. Grossman’s greatest passion was the ongoing care of burn survivors. He founded several foundations to help burn survivors in need: the Children’s Burn Foundation, the Circle of Care Burn Foundation and was an energetic supporter of the Firefighters’ Quest rally to raise funds for burn survivors.
For more than four decades, the Grossman Burn Center has been on the cutting edge of surgical burn care. Many pioneering techniques which are now standard practice in the treatment of burns were developed by Dr. Grossman. When he founded the Grossman Burn Center in 1969, burn care focused almost exclusively on patient survival; today the focus is on restoring the lives of burn survivors, physically, emotionally, and cosmetically.
Dr. Grossman’s greatest passion was the ongoing care of burn survivors. In 2004 he started an annual “Family Camp,” for former patients to come together with their families to strengthen the bond they share as survivors and as former Grossman patients.
On March 13, 2014, Dr. A. Richard Grossman, the founder of the Grossman Burn Center, died peacefully of natural causes at his home Thousand Oaks, CA.