Harry Gross: Trusted planner planned his funeral

When the legendary personal-finance guru Harry S. Gross signed off, he would tell his radio listeners the same thing every day.

"He said with a big flourish, 'Make it a great day!' - every time," recalled Anne Brophy Putney, who in the 1980s was director of editorials and public affairs for WCAU-AM, which hosted Gross' first radio show.

It was with a mix of sadness and devotion that Putney attended Gross' funeral Wednesday at Abington's Old York Road Temple-Beth Am.

The service was packed with hundreds of mourners, who alternately wept and laughed out loud at recollections about the feisty 92-year-old accountant and Daily News columnist, who died of heart failure Sunday at his home in Rydal.

Rabbi Robert Leib recalled their first encounter, a "friendly interrogation" in 1993 by Gross, whose family was considering joining the synagogue after moving to the area from Mount Airy.

"I've never met a gentleman like Harry. He drilled me relentlessly, and said their membership would be contingent on his funeral taking place in this sanctuary," the rabbi told the mourners. "Of course, he got his wish."

Gross attended weekly Friday night services and Saturday study of the Torah despite insisting he was a "Jewish atheist," Leib said.

"He had a favorite seat here every Friday, was uplifted by the pageantry of song, and always shook his head when my sermons would inflame him. He raised his voice like a lion, was a nonconformist, a strict rationalist, who nonetheless believed in his community."

Betty Gross Eisenberg struggled to say goodbye to her father in the sunlit sanctuary.

"Pop always used to say, 'You don't find happiness, you bring it with you,' " she said. Despite his own father's early death, leaving behind 6-year-old Harry and five siblings, Gross was never bitter, she said.

As personal-finance columnist, Gross always had a well-considered answer and a plan. His funeral became a teaching moment in planning.

Gross left detailed instructions: His grandchildren read psalms, letters and poems that he had selected. He even picked the music - Brahms' "Hungarian Dances" - that played as mourners filed in.

Mourners heard stories about the boy from Strawberry Mansion who became a mentor to untold thousands of Daily News readers, a teacher to generations of accountants, the voice of reason on personal-finance radio shows, and a beloved father and grandfather.

Harry's wife of 67 years, Helen, didn't speak at the service, but, as her husband had planned, relatives read a few of her poems, including:

Give me your hand if you dare / as our fingers intertwine / which is yours, and which is mine.

Harry Gross gave the same conservative advice to poor widows as he would to the wealthy.

And he inspired a legion of accountants in the Philadelphia area. Anthony Vance of Willow Grove attended the funeral as a longtime loyal reader of his column.

"He inspired me to go into the accounting profession," Vance said. "I'm Catholic, so, like Harry, I try to do extra acts of mercy, like he did."

Ethical wills have been used by Jews for centuries to impart life lessons. Harry Gross, who preached preparation, had his ready.

At the service, Joshua Eisenberg read his grandfather's ethical will, which included this nugget:

"Who is rich? He who rejoices in what he has."

earvedlund@phillynews.com

215-854-2808@erinarvedlund