Capitol Hill’s Polish Home is planning to honor its neighbor

The King County Medical Examiner has identified the man who died in last week’s house fire as Michael Gross.

Friends and neighbors who knew Gross or were familiar with the 18th Ave resident and his dog and cat Vince and Max are making plans to remember his remarkable life.

The 70-year-old died last Wednesday in the fire which has been ruled an accident. Investigators say the deadly blaze was started by “a portable space heater placed too close to combustible materials.” The dog and cat were reported to have safely escaped.

Gross’s house neighbors the street’s Polish Home. The community group is planning to honor gross with a gathering:

We will post notices of the gathering to remember Michael at his house, at Polish Home, around the neighborhood, and on this site as the plans come together. All will be welcome who wish to pay their respects and to further honor Michael by meeting his/your neighbors who Michael knew individually but would love to have known each other.

They’re also planning another special tribute. “Sala, our fabulous Polish Home bartender, in consult with Michael’s family will create and name a drink in remembrance of Michael adding it to our list of favorite drinks of our other beloved community members,” they write.

With New York roots, Gross forged an ambitious real estate career in Seattle and grew to provide newsworthy levels of financial support to progressive organizations in the city — after helping start “the largest term-paper company in the United States, starting a travel agency and a book company, and starting Seattle Filmworks:

Gross cashed out in 1980, started buying and selling property, and acquired a real estate license; he’s now affiliated with Windermere’s Bellevue West office. It was while tabling for an anti-nuclear organization on the Ave that he first thought of pledging his commissions to progressive groups. His first donation was his entire paycheck, about $3,000. Some 200 deals and $350,000 in donations—usually half his commission—have followed. “To walk into a place and hand people a check for $2,000,” Gross says, “it’s overwhelming—for me and for them.”

As for that Polish Home cocktail, in the CHS comments, Polish Home board president Erik Lidzbarski said Gross “savored good bourbon (and Polish food), so that’ll be the starting point.”

“I spoke with Michael’s sister Jane last night and shared details as we knew them about the fire and told her some other amusing recent tales of Michael, Vince and Max,” Lidzbarski writes. “She was very happy to hear of the many ongoing impromptu and supportive small gatherings of neighbors who stopped by to lay flowers and/or chat about Michael. One neighbor just to the south said she’d lived there nearly 15 years and met more people in the neighborhood since the fire than she has the entire time previously. Michael, Vince and Max are still bringing the local community together. All shared the same sorrow for the loss of Michael and his home, and concern for his pets.”

Vince and Max, meanwhile, have reportedly been adopted and will still be living in the neighborhood.

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