BURTON E. GROSSMAN was a highly respected international businessman and a longtime member of the Wilmer Advisory Council, on which his wife, MIRIAM GROSSMAN, also served until 2001. Dr. Grossman, who died in 1999, was a Texas native and a naturalized Mexican citizen who served as chairman and CEO of Grupo Continental, a holding company he established which owns and operates 46 corporations dealing with soft drinks, sugar refining, mineral water, cooling systems, and plastics.
Dr. Grossman, who had been treated for a rare eye condition at the Wilmer Eye Institute and whose father had lost his sight from glaucoma, was a strong advocate for the integration of efforts to understand the progression of specific ophthalmologic diseases and the incorporation of the principles of public health in the prevention of blindness.