A great sense of shock and sadness reverberated throughout Malibu as news spread Tuesday of the death of Grant Adamson. Adamson, 55, was a descendant of the Rindge-Adamson family, known as Malibu’s founding family.
Through dozens of emails, Facebook comments and story comments, community members testified Tuesday to the lasting impact Adamson had in his hometown.
For many, Grant Adamson was synonymous with the Malibu name.
“He never changed—always the nicest, most laid-back person I’ve ever known. He had his own special inflection for saying the word Malibu, and I loved hearing him say it,” friend Ray Karno wrote on The Malibu Times website.
Adamson died Tuesday in a hot air balloon crash in Switzerland. His wife Terry and two daughters, Lauren and Megan, were seriously injured. Lauren and Megan are expected to make a full recovery after having undergone surgery for their injuries. Terry was expected to undergo surgery within the next “48 hours,” according to Adamson’s niece Kristen London.
Jeff Follert, a Serra Retreat neighbor and close friend of Adamson’s, remembered him as a family man and lover of the outdoors.
“He was an avid sportsman, but also a very quiet and private man,” Follert told The Malibu Times on Tuesday. As neighbors in Serra Retreat, Follert had been friends with Adamson for more than a decade.
“This is just a horrible tragedy for the entire community,” developer Steve Soboroff wrote online.
Anne Payne, another neighbor of the Adamsons, shared in the community’s grief.
“The whole of Serra Retreat is bereft at the loss of Grant and we’re very vigilantly communicating with one another in hopes and prayers that Terry, Lauren and Megan get full recovery from their injuries and are back with us soon,” Payne said Tuesday. “They’re such an important family [here].”
“A nicer person and family is not to be found in Malibu,” Gwen Lucoff wrote on The Malibu Times website.
Realtor Paul Grisanti commented, “Grant was a truly wonderful intelligent human being without an angry or uncivil bone in his body. He was a loyal friend, loving husband and father, and always concerned about Malibu.”
Malibu Times publisher Karen York chimed in as well, having been familiar with Grant Adamson, his wife Terry, and his daughters Lauren and Megan since they were little,
“We are devastated — Arnold [York] and I have known the family for years and watched the girls grow up.”
Others came to know Grant Adamson around town through his company, the Mariposa Land Company.
“I worked with Grant for many years, and had many interactions with his family in Malibu (and beyond). Grant was a wonderful, kind person, and so is his wife. I hope his family can recover from this horrible tragedy. What a loss for Malibu. I really think Grant was one of Malibu’s kindest, most amazing souls,” said Stacey Rice Lundin.
