Neurosurgeon hailed as a brilliant pioneer

Dr. Robert Grossman, a pioneering Houston neurosurgeon who as a young resident examined the fatal head wound of President John F. Kennedy, died Thursday at his home. He was

88.

Grossman served as chair of Houston Methodist’s department of neurosurgery for more than three decades, developing groundbreaking advances in the treatment of epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease, in addition to head and spinal chord injuries. He performed thousands of neurosurgical operations, mentored hundreds of neurosurgeons throughout the United States and wrote prolifically for scientific journals and medical textbooks.

He is survived by his wife, Ellin, their three children and nine grandchildren.

“I’ve met incredibly brilliant people, motivated people, kind people, collaborative people. But I’ve never met someone where all that was in one person,” said Dr. David Baskin, a Houston Methodist neurosurgeon and Grossman’s colleague of 37 years. “I think the world will have a big hole in its heart.”

Grossman remained part of the research faculty at Houston Methodist until the time of his death and was commonly spotted in the hospital before the coronavirus pandemic took hold. He continued writing grants and completing other work despite his own battle with Parkinson’s, a sadly ironic diagnosis for a man who dedicated his life to the treatment of neurological disorders, his obituary noted.

“Like everything else in his life, Dr. Grossman faced it bravely, squarely and gracefully,” according to his obituary.

Born in the Bronx, N.Y., Grossman was the only child of immigrants — his father a family physician from Hungary and his mother a grade school teacher from Lithuania. He received his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University and completed his surgical internship at the University of Rochester Medical Center in 1958. He served as a captain in the Medical Corps in the U.S. Army Reserve and later became chief resident at the Neurological Institute of New York at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.

He moved to Parkland Hospital in Dallas in 1963, when as a 30-year-old resident he encountered the mortally wounded Kennedy.

In a harrowing first-person account published by NBC News, Grossman described running to see the president’s motionless body, which was surrounded by physicians. Grossman examined what he knew was a fatal wound — a shattered scalp and skull that revealed brain tissue. In his account, he recounted the moment the senior neurosurgeon advised the medical team to stop resuscitation efforts as Jacqueline Kennedy stood in the corner of the room.

“Everyone was concentrating on the medical aspect,” he wrote. “But I think everyone was concerned: What does this mean for the country? Was this the start of World War III?”

During his career, Grossman unraveled the mysteries of electrical currents in the brain and became one of the first people to record brain signals during surgery, said Baskin. He developed a way to detect tiny spots of neural dysfunction, which helped cure or reduce epilepsy without major side effects. He also was instrumental in creating technology to better investigate Parkinson’s disease.

Despite his stature as a giant in the field, he mentored people with compassion and understanding, Baskin said.

“When he called you in the office for whatever it was — good or bad — he was always trying to think, “What can I say or do to help this person?” said Baskin. “And we all just loved him and appreciated him.” julian.gill@chron.com