Kerry S Grant

September 6, 2014, beloved husband of Linda Grant (Bagley); loving father of Kristy (Jonathan) Grant-Hart, Kelly (Neal) Wood and Kimberly (Ryan) Black, M.D.; dearest papa of Delilah Wood; dear brother of Jay Grant of Laguna Beach, CA and Robert Grant of San Clemente, CA; son-in-law of Charlotte “Sunny” Davis; brother-in-law of Doc Bagley. Private family service will be held at Forest Lawn Cemetery. A Celebration of Life will be held at The University at Buffalo Center for the Arts, 103 Center for the Arts, Buffalo, NY 14260, Thursday, March 5, 2015 at 4 pm. Kerry was Dean of Arts and Sciences, Vice Provost of Academic Affairs and

Professor of Music History at The University at Buffalo. Flowers gratefully declined. Memorials to Hospice Foundation of WNY.

Arrangements under the direction of Dengler, Roberts, Perna Funeral Home, Kenmore, NY.

Kerry S. Grant, former senior academic administrator at the University at Buffalo and respected music historian, passed away on September 6, 2014, in Hospice Buffalo at the age of 68 following a two-year battle with cancer.

Grant is best known in the Buffalo area for his 2001 book, The Rainbow City, which commemorated the centennial of the Pan-American Exposition. The Rainbow City resulted from Grant’s intellectual curiosity after finding only two entries on the Pan-American Exposition in the UB libraries’ catalog. Grant’s training as a music historian provided him with the requisite interdisciplinary background to create the lavishly-illustrated volume. As the book took shape, three themes emerged: light, color, and architecture. Grant’s research helped him to appreciate and vividly describe the underpinnings of Buffalo as a community at a time of great prosperity and rapid change. He also wrote a television script “The Rainbow City: Reflecting Buffalo’s Century of Progress,” which was first aired by WNED-TV in 2002. Grant also produced the program and served as its music editor. As a result of his research, Grant amassed a large collection of posters and Pan-American Exposition memorabilia that he donated to the UB Archives.

Originally from Southern California, Grant came to UB in 1991 as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Letters. Prior to his appointment at UB, he served as Director of the School of Music at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. In 1998, Grant led the merge between UB’s faculties of Arts and Letters, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences and Mathematics, to form UB’s current College of Arts and Sciences.

As Dean, Grant was responsible for increases in research support; the expansion of language offerings, including the development of an Asian-language program; support for an international center for Polish studies, and the development and expansion of Korean studies. He also made significant advances in diversifying the faculty, bringing 13 outstanding minority scholars to UB’s faculty in two years. Grant also participated in a State University of New York system-wide review of undergraduate general education, and presided over the opening of UB’s Center for the Arts. In 2001, Grant was named Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Graduate School at UB.

In addition to his administrative role, Grant was also a music professor at UB. He viewed his primary task as a professor as an obligation to students, and in particular, teaching them at all levels. His classes ranged from introductory courses in music in which hundreds enrolled, to one-on-one informal advising. He took pride in teaching a wide variety of seminars on different topics, particularly dealing with 18th-century classical composers.

In addition to his service on numerous university and professional boards, Grant served as a member and chair of the Erie County Cultural Resources Advisory Board, a member of the board of directors of the Arts Council of Buffalo and Erie County, and a

member of the Cultural Leadership Group and Leadership Buffalo.

To honor his dedication to education, Grant’s family has established the Kerry Grant Memorial Prize, which will award a cash prize to a practicing UB art student who writes the most compelling essay about his or her understanding of artistic training as it relates to life and a career in arts.

Grant is survived by his loving wife, Linda Grant (Bagley), his devoted daughters Kristy (Jonathan) Grant-Hart of England, Kelly (Neal) Wood of California, and Kimberly (Ryan) Black of California, and his beloved granddaughter, Delilah Wood. A private burial for Grant’s immediate family is scheduled, and a public celebration of Grant’s life will be announced at a later date.