Metro
ON THE COVER
Chuck Gaidica and Paul Gross consult before a
Paul Gross at the December 2007
Paul Gross, flanked by Tigers' assistant groundskeeper Gail
live report at the scene of the October 2007
groundbreaking of Kol Ami's religious
Williamston, Mich., tornado.
school wing, which opened last fall.
DeGennaro and head groundskeeper Heather Nabozny at a 2006
World Series game.
Weather Watcher from page 11
weather and its impact on D-Day in World
War II. Gross refers to that film, titled,
Forecast: Overlord, as "probably the most
significant project I've done at WDIV.
Three-and-a-half years of research and
interviews around the country culminated
in a documentary considered so histori-
cally important that it has been added to
the official D-Day archives at the Dwight D.
Eisenhower presidential library in Kansas,
the British Meteorological Archives and the
museums of television and radio history in
New York and Chicago."
Gross Weather Bill
When students in Michigan schools par-
ticipate in required tornado safety drills, it
is because of a law Gross helped create.
After learning that no law required
schools in Michigan to conduct tornado
safety drills, he contacted former State
Rep. Gerald Law, R-Plymouth, in hopes of
making a change. "He introduced House
Bill 5237, that we informally called the
`Gross Weather Bill, which reduced the
number of required annual fire drills in
public schools from 10 to eight and added
at least two mandatory tornado safety
drills," Gross said.
After Gross testified about the tornado
threat in Michigan, before both the House
Education Committee and the Senate
Education Committee, it passed in both.
"I joined Rep. Law and Gov. John Engler
on March 27, 1998, when House Bill 5237
was signed into law, and I consider this to
be the single most important accomplish-
ment of my career," Gross said.
He attended his first American
Meteorological Society (AMS) Conference
on Broadcast Meteorology while still in
college, later becoming chairman of the
group — and he's still involved.
In 2005, Gross was named to the newly
formed AMS Committee on the Station
Scientist, becoming chairman shortly after,
a position he still holds. "We coordinate the
AMS national effort of encouraging and
enabling broadcast meteorologists to add
more science and environmental informa-
tion to their weather broadcasts," he said.
Honored with many professional
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September 10 . 2009
awards, Gross was nominated eight
times for Emmy awards by the Michigan
Chapter of the National Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and
is the winner of three. Earlier this year,
NATAS awarded Gross its Silver Circle
Award in recognition of a career of excel-
lence and significant contributions to the
television industry.
In The Courtroom
Taking his expertise into the legal system,
Gross has testified as an expert witness
in dozens of trials and researched more
than 1,000 cases in litigation involving the
weather or related sciences.
Serving as a private certified consult-
ing meteorologist since 1986, he works for
plaintiff and defense attorneys on cases
including those that involve slip and fall
accidents, auto crashes, visibility issues, roof
failure from excessive rain or snow, and loss
from flooding, lightning or severe weather.
For clients — including the Michigan
attorney general's office — he researches
how past weather conditions impacted a
specific incident.
In a case where a driver claimed he hit
another car after being blinded by the
sun, Gross was able to compute the exact
location and angle of the sun that day
and present the findings. In another case
involving a car that spun out of control on
an icy highway, he determined the condi-
tions of the road based on how it was
affected by temperature, snowfall and salt.
Temple Life
Longtime members of Temple Kol Ami,
Paul and Nancy both are active in the syn-
agogue. He serves on the board of trustees.
TKWs Rabbi Norman Roman officiated
at their marriage and at the b'nai mitzvah
of their sons, who attend the TKA reli-
gious school high school. Adam also is a
teacher's aid on Sunday mornings.
"Paul takes his Jewish identity and his
professionalism very seriously, and knows
that each of us must participate to the
fullest extent possible in making our com-
munity better," Roman said.
"I have many memories of Paul at TKA
— on the roof cleaning away leaves from
the gutter; in the basement, stuffing and
collecting bags filled with donated clothes
to take to a homeless shelter; helping non-
Jewish visitors to the synagogue feel more
comfortable."
Gross reads Torah during services and
serves as master of ceremonies for temple
events. He represents Kol Ami at commu-
nity functions and is involved in interfaith
projects including the 2008 Twinning
Weekend between TKA and the American
Muslim Center in Dearborn. He and Nancy
have coordinated TKA s annual fundraiser
for Mazon: the Jewish Response to Hunger.
Gross videotaped interviews with
many of TKA's founding members to help
preserve the synagogue's history. He is
planning to assemble a collection of the
synagogue's historical documents and
materials to display.
Having done genealogical research, he
said, "One of the most important and spe-
cial moments in my life came at my two
sons' bar mitzvahs, where I presented each
of them with all eight of their great-grand-
parents' family trees."
'
Cancer Survivor
In 1989, during a time when Gross' career
was on the upswing and he was becoming
a familiar member of the news team, he
was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
"Following surgery to remove the pri-
mary tumor, I underwent the harshest
chemotherapy available to attack the rapidly
growing secondary tumor that was in the
lymph nodes behind my left kidney," he said.
Returning to work as soon as he could
following each round of treatments, Gross
said, "My father got up and drove me
down each morning at 3 a.m."
Longtime co-worker Chuck Gaidica
remembers that time. "I watched Paul go
through his battle with great dignity:' he
said. "Even though Paul was going through
rigorous treatments, he maintained his
spirit and was a true pro. My admiration
for all that Paul is grew immensely. But,
my admiration for him as a husband,
father and great son can't be matched.
There aren't many people that I would
move mountains for in my life, but Paul is
one of those people."
Gross was dating Nancy when he was
diagnosed. "She was unbelievably sup-
portive, and I'll always be grateful that she
stuck with me through the worst of the
ordeal:' he said. "In fact, I had seen more
than enough and, after the third round of
chemo, I was so confident that I was going
to win the battle that I proposed."
This year, Gross celebrated what he called
his "20-year anniversary beating cancer:'
When this summer's American Cancer
Society Relay for Life of West Bloomfield
took place the same day as the local Emmy
awards banquet, he chose to attend Relay.
Gross received a call at the event telling him
he had won an Emmy award.
"I have no problem telling my cancer
story:' he said. "If I inspire just one person
to get through their own battle, then I've
done my job."
Rabbi Roman takes that hope to heart.
"My most profound memory of Paul is a
highly personal one:' he said. "As a can-
cer survivor himself, Paul was extremely
empathetic and responsive to our family
as we went through the diagnosis, treat-
ments and, ultimately, the death of our
son, Justin, five years ago. He reached out
to Justin in special ways with a Jewish and
respectful sharing of pain. Paul has been
a good friend in addition to being a loyal
temple member:'
On The Field
When the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions or
Michigan Wolverines are in need of weath-
er-related advice, they call on Gross.
In the late 1980s, after then U-M head
football coach, the late Bo Schembechler,
told him he got the weekly weather fore-
cast from the team's equipment manager,
Gross suggested he take over the job.
"[Former U-M head football coach] Lloyd
Carr told me on many occasions that my
weather forecasts were critical elements
to his game preparation during the week:'
Gross said. "He sometimes spoke to the
team about my forecast in meetings, call-
ing me 'his pipeline to God:"
As a U-M alumnus and fan, Gross said