Granville H Crabtree Jr.

Granville H. Crabtree Jr., a decorated former Army captain and combat paratrooper in the Korean War; Sarasota’s first Republican state legislator; and a co-founder of Sarasota Healthcare Services with his wife, Eva Mischka Corbett Crabtree, died peacefully at his home with Eva at his side on August 4, 2024. He was 94 years old.

Crabtree’s life was one of firsts, surprises, and—often—overcoming odds. On the day he was born (premature, at 28 weeks), the doctor told his father that he would lose both his wife and his son that day. Both survived.

Born in 1929, he grew up during the Great Depression—once moving eight times in one year. He did well in high school—despite working in a Catskills hotel to help support his family from the age of 14—and was admitted to Cornell University. Upon arriving at Cornell, he met his classmates and decided that he was not yet “mature enough for college”—arguably, a rather mature move. He left the first day and enrolled in the U.S. Army.

Soon after enrolling as a Private, he was screened out by an I.Q. test and asked if he would like to enter Officers’ Candidate School. Noting that officers seemed to eat better than enlisted men, he accepted. After serving some time as an officer, he decided to become a paratrooper and, once assigned to the Korean War, was repeatedly dropped behind enemy lines.

After two tours of combat service in Korea, he was assigned to Japan, where he was responsible for hydroponic farms that fed the U.S. troops on the Korean peninsula.

After leaving the Army, he returned the U.S., enrolled at the University of Missouri, and earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Business Administration. He was then accepted to George Washington University’s law school, where he received multiple book awards in his law courses before graduating.

He, his then-wife—the former Paulette Vitrier—and their young daughter, Michelle, then moved to Sarasota, where Paulette's family lived. He began his legal career with attorney Clyde Wilson and, after two years, started his own practice. He quickly fell in love with Sarasota and became involved with the Kiwanis and Elks clubs, In 1966, they urged him to run for the Florida State Legislature as a Republican.

At that time, no Republican had won a legislative seat in Sarasota—at least not in the twentieth century. Despite the odds, he ran and—after absentee ballots were counted—he had won by 86 votes.

He served 10 years in the Florida Legislature and never lost reelection. He was the first Republican (the minority party at the time) to ever be awarded Most Effective in Committee in the legislature. He was also appointed to and served on the three impeachment committees that investigated three Florida Supreme Court Justices for alleged misconduct—an honor bestowed on no other legislator. Indeed, at the time, no elected American politician had ever served on three impeachment committees for any state of federal body.

As a practicing lawyer, he had many colorful clients. None more so than Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows. Ringling became his client after he won a case for famous costume designer Max Weldy (who was also behind Folies Bergère cabaret in Paris) against the circus. Showfolk were not his only clients, of course, but it’s notable that he also represented the world-famous tightrope artist Karl Wallenda (Nik Wallenda’s great-grandfather).

In addition to his law practice, Granville was a real-estate developer—with projects ranging from Tampa to Naples. He led a group that owned the land on which the Ritz Carlton currently sits and, as part of that project, tried in vain to restore the John Ringing Towers hotel. Unfortunately, the economic currents were not in his favor, and a later purchaser of the property razed the hotel—a great disappointment in his life.

He also founded and served for years as chairman of Century Bank—the only savings and loan to turn a profit in Florida one year during the banking crisis of the late 1980s. (The bank’s subsequent owner was not as fortunate when the next banking crisis came, in 2009.)

Still, his life was not without challenges. Shortly after he turned 60, he lost almost everything, including his marriage and his legal career. He was devastated. But, slowly, he picked himself up, and started a new life.

It was a good life. He met and fell in love with Eva, and over the ensuing 32 years, they worked and adventured together—with the kind of life and experiences one usually associates with much younger people.

Granville and Eva, a registered nurse, started Sarasota Healthcare Services—a vaccination-clinic business that succeeded for over 25 years. (That company inspired his son to found VaxCare—the leading vaccination-services company in the United States.) Granville and Eva not only prospered, they travelled extensively.

Initially, they enjoyed cruising, but one of Granville’s lifelong dreams had been to drive an RV to every state in the country (except Hawaii, of course). So they did that. Then they did it again. They even RV’d to Mexico with friends. And they had a great time.

They traveled throughout South America and Canada, but they also loved to travel further abroad. They traveled repeatedly throughout Europe. They traveled to Japan, China, and Australia. During the Arab Spring, they traveled to Egypt, Jordan, and Israel. They loved Italy and France so much that they spent a summer in Tuscany one year and spent the summer in Provence the next year. He never tired of travel.

Granville leaves behind his wife, Eva; his sister, Helen Melahouris; one surviving child, John Crabtree, of Key Biscayne, along with his wife, Christine and their five children—John, Faith, Thomas, Nicole and Granville's namesake, Granville H. Crabtree III, known as Tripp. Granville’s other child, Michelle Crabtree, predeceased him earlier this year; her son, Chadwick Mahle, survives as does his daughter, Isabella. Granville also leaves behind five step-children (Nancy Kistler, Tre Mischka, Eve Goldberg, Tracey Chaffin, Kerry Mischka), nine step-grandchildren, and two step great-grandchildren.

Granville supported the U.S. Military Services throughout his life and was a member of the American Legion. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his name to Fisher House at https://connect.fisherhouse.org/campaign/Granville-H--Crabtree-Memorial-Fund