Bruce Allen Grassfield

Bruce Allen Grassfield
1926-2019

Bruce Allen “Blue” Grassfield, of Longboat Key passed away on August 21, 2019 at a hospice facility in Bradenton Florida. 

Born in Waverly, Iowa on October 2nd, 1926 Mr. Grassfield had been a local resident since 2011 after moving here from Boston, Massachusetts. He proudly served in WWII in the U.S. Army Air Corps and returned to a career in the Air Force after receiving his BA from Denver University. 

After leaving the Air Force he founded the “Barnsider” restaurant in Albany New York in 1967. By 1982 The Barnsider Management Company had grown to an enterprise of eight restaurants with five hundred employees that included the “Barnsider” in Montreal Canada and the “Raindancer” in Fort Lauderdale Florida. Mr. Grassfield was a pilot, sailor, horseman, skier, photographer, model maker, fly fisherman, skeet shooter and starting jest a few years ago a drummer/crooner. His was a life fully lived. He is survived by his wife Violetta Lashuari Wofsey Grassfield of Long Boat Key, Florida his brother Max of Denver, Colorado, his son Kim of Holyoke, Massachusetts, his son Paul of Brooklyn, New York his daughter in-law Jennifer Stearns of Brooklyn, New York and his grandchildren Mason and Eve Grassfield. A committal ceremony with military honors will be conducted at Sarasota National Cemetery on Monday, September 9, 2019 at 10:00 a.m.  Arrangements by All Veterans-All Families Funerals & Cremations.