Michael Stephen Gross was born on September 26, 1964, at Brooke Army General Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. He died April 7, 2010, in McAllen, Texas. Mike graduated from Forest Lake High School in 1983 and from the University of Minnesota-Institute of Technology in 1987 with a chemical engineering degree. He worked for Rubber Industries in Shakopee, then for Minnesota Rubber in Minneapolis, and most recently for Trostel of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Mike parlayed his love for travel by taking promotion opportunities with Minnesota Rubber first and lived and worked in Singapore for three years and then with Trostel by living in Texas but working in the plant in Reynosa, Mexico for three years. He is survived by parents, Richard and Erin; sisters, Amy (Jim Gannon) and Katy (fiancé Larry Matzdorf); nieces, Camille Gross, Sophia, Emma Gannon; nephew, Joseph Gannon; grandmother Dorothy Gross; many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. He is preceded in death by infant brother Thomas; grandparents Ralph and Marietta McCaffrey and Victor Gross.
Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m., Friday, April 16, 2010 at St. Peter’s Catholic Church, 1250 South Shore Drive, Forest Lake. The family will greet friends from 4:00-7:00 p.m., Thursday with a time of sharing at 7:00 p.m. at Mattson Funeral Home, 343 North Shore Drive, Forest Lake with a gathering continuing from 9:00-10:00 a.m., Friday at the funeral home. Private family interment at Calvary Cemetery, Forest Lake. Memorials are preferred to the Community Scholarship Foundation or the Youth Service Bureau.