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Birth:          29 Mar 1954 
Death:          10 Jun 1998 Lower Merion Twp., Montgomery Co., Pa.
Cause of Death: murdered
Burial:         15 Jun 1998 

Notes
!PUBL
ancestry.com
www.blackburn-tree.org/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I109228&tree=blackburn
pub rec on ancestry 80 Runnemede Ave, Lansdowne, Pa.
http://articles.philly.com/1998-10-19/news/25759844_1_insurance-policy-
beneficiary-bankruptcy
Mystery Shadows Death Of Dentist Stephen Wakefield Grosse Left A Lot Of Debt And 
An Ambiguous Insurance Policy.
October 19, 1998|By Ralph Vigoda, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER


When Society Hill dentist Stephen Wakefield Grosse was shot to death in his 
Mercedes on a secluded road in Lower Merion Township four months ago, he left two 
mysteries:

Who killed him?

Who gets the million dollars?

Neither is likely to be solved soon.

Homicide investigators are tracking leads every day, said Bruce L. Castor Jr., first 
assistant district attorney in Montgomery County. ``But right now,'' he added, ``we're 
dug in for the long haul.''

The same could be said for the folks trying to figure out what to do with the $1 million 
life insurance policy Grosse left. They are arguing over who owned the policy, who is 
the proper beneficiary, and whether changes Grosse made in the year before he died 
were valid.

The insurer, Jefferson Pilot of New Hampshire, is not balking at cutting the check. But 
it does not know who to pay, and so has asked a federal judge to sort it out.

Should the million dollars go to Alvin K. Steffey, the model and aspiring actor whom 
Stephen Grosse met on the Internet? That was the dentist's intention.

Should it go to Grosse's father, Edward M. Grosse, who is eager to clear his son's 
debts? He was the original beneficiary - and contends he still is the correct one.

Should it go to Stephen Grosse's estate?

Should Royal Bank, to which he owed nearly $350,000, be paid first? Or should a 
quarter-million be peeled off for the IRS and the City of Philadelphia, both of which 
want back taxes?

``In a typical case, you would have clear beneficiaries, and it would be 
straightforward,'' said Don Brooks, a lawyer representing Jefferson Pilot. ``Here you 
have questions, so many competing claims, that we're putting it into court to determine 
who is properly entitled to the money.''

The legal paperwork recently ended up on the desk of U.S. District Judge Stewart 
Dalzell; the case has been marked for the ``special management'' track. That is 
reserved for complex cases that require, in the words of the court, ``extraordinary 
treatment.''

Based on Grosse's knotted finances, this one fits the category.

Grosse was 44 when he died on June 10. By many accounts, he lived for his practice - 
and for his partying. But he was not careful about his money, spending far more than 
he had.

Over the years, he owned a number of dental and medical businesses. One was 
Lansdowne Dental Associates, which he incorporated in August 1994, a month before 
taking out the $1 million policy. He paid a $1,300 annual premium, and named his 
father as beneficiary.

On Nov. 4 of that year, he changed the policy, naming Lansdowne Dental owner and 
beneficiary.

Then, on Dec. 30, Grosse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But he was unable to make 
the reorganization work, so in 1996 it was converted to a Chapter 7 personal 
bankruptcy.

About the time of the conversion, Edward Grosse formed the Society Hill Cosmetic 
Dental Center to run his son's practice. The father was the sole owner and 
stockholder; the son drew a salary. The premiums on the life insurance policy were 
paid by Society Hill, and, in July 1997, the beneficiary was changed back to Edward 
Grosse.

Stephen Grosse emerged from bankruptcy in December 1997. About two months later, 
he found Alvin Steffey on the Internet.

Grosse took an interest in Steffey's aspirations to acting, setting him up with an 
apartment in California. Steffey has described their relationship as a friendship. Police 
believe it was more; they have, however, ruled out Steffey as a suspect.

On May 20, Grosse tried to ensure Steffey's financial future. On that day, he made 
Steffey - whom he falsely listed as his cousin - the sole beneficiary of the $1 million 
policy. (Jefferson Pilot is aware of the false claim but is not making an issue of it.)

This is where a sticky situation gets stickier.

The day before - May 19 - Stephen Grosse bought Society Hill Cosmetic Dental Center 
from his father for $1,000. Or he thought he had.

Edward Grosse claims that, because his son's check was dated June 3 and not 
deposited until that day, the business remained in the elder Grosse's name until then. 
In a letter sent to Jefferson Pilot on June 24, he argued that, because he still owned 
the business, and the business owned the policy, only he could authorize a change in 
the beneficiary. That would seem to cut out Steffey.

But it is not that simple, according to Gerald B. Baldino Jr., a lawyer for Stephen 
Grosse's estate. ``It is a lack of understanding on the father's part of what the 
business was,'' he said.

In his letter, Edward Grosse incorrectly lumped together Lansdowne Dental and 
Society Hill as one business, Baldino said. But Lansdowne Dental, he said, continued 
as a corporation - albeit, a bankrupt one - with Stephen Grosse at its head. The 
policy, therefore, was his to change.

But wait.

Although Stephen Grosse emerged from personal bankruptcy, the bankruptcy of his 
companies, including Lansdowne Dental, remains open, according to court records. 
Normally, any changes made to assets of a bankrupt corporation would have to be 
approved by a bankruptcy trustee. It is unclear if that happened in this case, although 
bankruptcy experts were divided on how significant that would prove to be. If the 
judge decides the policy was, in fact, an asset, he could disallow the beneficiary 
changes - including that to Steffey - that Grosse had made after the company went 
bankrupt.

Meanwhile, lawyers for Royal Bank say they have reason to believe that the bank was 
the beneficiary. In a letter sent to Jefferson Pilot June 18, the lawyers noted that 
Grosse indicated as much during a bankruptcy deposition in 1997. That was why, the 
letter says, the bank agreed to loan Grosse money.

It is clear from documents that Royal Bank was never named as a beneficiary. But, the 
bank asks, did Grosse make changes in his policy simply to avoid creditors? If so, the 
bank insists, that constitutes fraud.

``Dr. Grosse repeatedly represented to the bank and to the bankruptcy court that the 
proceeds of the policy were pledged to secure the obligations of Dr. Grosse and his 
various corporate entities to the bank,'' the letter says. ``Now it appears that these 
representations were materially false.''

In addition, the estate of Stephen Grosse might go after the $1 million.

``I don't know what our position will be yet,'' Baldino said. ``But if we feel the money 
should be paid to Lansdowne Dental Associates, we'll go after it, and the money will 
become part of the estate.''

Should that happen, Baldino said, the first people paid would be the lawyers, 
accountants and others who worked on the estate's finances. ``That will easily be in 
the six figures,'' he said.

After that sum is knocked off, debts likely would be whittled. Take away the nearly 
$350,000 for Royal Bank, and at least $250,000 for the IRS and the City of 
Philadelphia, which wants unpaid wage and mercantile taxes. What is left is about 
$300,000.

As for Steffey, he remains in California, doing very well with his modeling career, but 
not acting, according to his lawyer, Francis Murrman.

Murrman said he believes Steffey is still entitled to the million dollars. But, he said: ``I 
still need to digest the positions of the parties and the strength of their interests and 
claims. Once I do that, I'll advise [Steffey] on how I think we should proceed.''

Some of the money owed to Royal Bank and the IRS could be paid soon when the 
sale of Stephen Grosse's practice is completed. That should be by the end of the 
month, Baldino said.

He declined to name the buyer.


Parents
GROSSE Edward Milton ()
BLACKBURN Dorothy Jane (24 Oct 1923 - 5 Aug 2009)

Siblings
GROSSE Robert Edward ()
GROSSE Stephen Wakefield (29 Mar 1954 - 10 Jun 1998)
GROSSE Frederick George ()

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