Lumberman Grossman dies at 92> `Super salesman’ bought and sold town of Sanford

Sidney Grossman, a “super salesman” who built his father’s junk business into a nationally recognized lumber concern and bought and sold the town of Sanford, Maine, died Thursday at home in Newton, Mass. He was 92.

As president of L. Grossman & Sons lumber company in Quincy, Mass., from 1948 to 1968, Grossman helped create the company’s do-it-yourself program that was popular in meeting the area’s housing needs during the postwar building boom.

The company was founded by his father, Louis, a Russian refugee who sold junk door-to-door from a wagon in Quincy.

A story distributed by The Associated Press in December 1965 described young Grossman as a “super salesman” who got his start in business by accompanying his father on his rounds.

When the schooner Nancy ran aground on Nantasket Beach, Hull, Mass., during the hurricane of 1938, many people saw it as a disaster. Grossman saw it as an opportunity. He bought the shipwreck and operated it as a museum for a time. When that became unprofitable, he sold it piece by piece to souvenir hunters.

A member of the Army Reserve, he was called to active duty during World War II and served in Europe.

After his discharge, he saw opportunity in the resale of surplus Army equipment. He sold surplus rocket tubes as water pipes, and once sold 16 Army tanks for use as tractors. He kept one of the tanks and displayed it in front of company headquarters for many years.

Grossman invested in many industrial development projects. Perhaps the most famous was in 1954, when he bought the town of Sanford, Maine, after the local mill failed. He sold the town’s industrial properties to other firms that provided jobs for the residents, and presented the water rights, and the town buildings, previously owned by the mill, to its residents.

He was also involved in development projects with the Passamaquoddy Indians in Maine and the Assinboine Indians in Montana, who made him a “blood brother” and gave him the name “Walking Buffalo.”