- Date Of Birth: March 7, 1936
- Date Of Death: September 3, 2017
- State: Maryland
Dr. Raymond Conrad Grant was gifted to us by the good Lord through the union of Ray and Dorothy Grant. Born in Chicago in 1936, Ray was a dynamic boy: intellectually gifted and athletic. Ray absorbed, deeply, his father’s musical talent and appreciation, showing promise as a pianist and organist as a young boy. The senior Ray Grant was called home to the Lord when Raymond was a mere teenager. Mother Dorothy would raise Raymond and his two sisters, Cynthia and Conchita.
St. Louis would become a place of wide discovery. Raymond graduated from Sumner High School, but the city’s musical tradition would settle within him. A youthful marriage to Flora Mae Clinton blessed the young couple with two children, Rayfield and Darryl. Raymond continued his education at Washington University at St. Louis, earning a Bachelor of Science in chemistry in 1962. This fascination with science opened the first career doors for Raymond; he worked as a research scientist in many of the university’s laboratories and in St. Louis offices of the Federal Food and Drug Administration.
The lure of advancement within the FDA and the bliss of marriage to Donna Miller carried Raymond and Donna, and their children Andrea and young Joseph to Washington, D.C. in 1974. The greater district would remain Raymond’s home. Photogenic and vibrant, youthful and constantly central to debate, the city was an engaging place for Raymond. Professionally, the breadth of Raymond’s intellect and his thoroughness carried him beyond the chemistry department. After nearly four decades within the institution, Raymond retired from the FDA in 1999, where he was the Senior Policy Analyst within the Compliance Division, with special supervision over medical devices and related trends in medicine. In the interim, Raymond had returned to school, earning Master’s degrees from Washington University at St. Louis and the University of Southern California, ultimately earning his PhD in Public Administration from USC. Of course, his heart remained with his children: Rayfield, Darryl, Andrea, and Joseph.
As a mature man, Raymond was a source of wisdom for many. He stood as a compass for friends and colleagues navigating their way through doctoral programs, and complicated research within the FDA. He maintained his ear for spiritual musica”good music of all genres. And always stood with arms open wide to dear friends, especially his curious and science-minded friends, the “good doctors.”
In 1998, Raymond married JoAnn (Peoples) Fredenburg. In doing so, Raymond embraced JoAnn’s children, Michelle and George.
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