Dorothy (Dotty) Davis Granet

Our beloved mother, Dorothy (Dotty) Davis Granet, passed away on May 15, 2022, just 5 days shy of her 97th birthday. 

Dotty Davis was born in New York City on May 20, 1925, and spent her early years in Washington Heights on Magaw Place. Our mother remembered Washington Heights fondly, with memories of picnics in the park while watching the completion of the George Washington Bridge as well as attending George Washington High School (’44), where she excelled at playing hooky by jumping on a double-decker bus and going downtown to see Frank Sinatra at the Paramount Theatre in Times Square. On Magaw Place, she made many lifelong friends and also met her husband and our father, Gilbert Kenneth Granet.

After living in Stuyvesant Town, Dotty moved the family to New Jersey, where once again lifelong friends were made and legendary parties were thrown in River Edge, Englewood, Ridgewood and Ho-Ho-Kus. In 1979, she moved to Northern California, where she remained a resident for the rest of her life. Our mother’s greatest passion was always first and foremost her family. She believed her children were capable of doing anything they wanted to do, and would support them without reservation. She was able to make each of her children believe that he or she was her favorite, because she believed each of them was. She was also there to support other people she loved, and, to be in her orbit, meant knowing you could count on her for anything. 

Dotty instilled in each of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren a commitment to prioritizing family, travel, the bold pursuit of dreams, and getting the most out of life. She always put less emphasis on needless details, such as unnecessary guidelines, meaningless budgets, or complicated regulations. She often repeated the tenet “rules are for losers” and used it as her unofficial motto. She loved to travel and spent her life seeing the world.  In addition to countless trips abroad, she cherished summers on Shelter Island and Christmases in Lake Tahoe. She had a keen appreciation of luxurious settings, but the extravagance she appreciated most was having her entire family gathered around her in any house within twenty minutes of a casino. 

In addition to graduating from George Washington High School, Dotty also attended New York University. After being a full-time homemaker, she later went out to have an established career at Hewlett Packard.

Dotty is survived by her 5 devoted children, Craig Granet of Santa Barbara, California; Scott Granet (Nancy) of Redwood Shores, California; Suzanne Granet of Lafayette, California: Keith Granet (Jon) of Los Angeles, California; and Russell Granet (David) of New York City. She has nine grandchildren, Jenni (Dan), Jacki, Jordan (Bill), Julia, Allison, Carly, Joshua, Drew and Sadie. She has 3 great grandchildren, Sienna, Skylar, and Lake. She is also survived by her sister, Marie Davis Esche of Dade City, Florida, and her cousin, Louis “Buster” Taylor (Joan) of New Jersey. She was predeceased by her parents, Anna and Harry Davis. 

A Celebration of her life will be held in San Mateo, California on Sunday, August 14th. More details to follow. 

Our mother’s favorite charity was St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Please consider making a donation in our Mother's name by visiting the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital website, select "Ways to Give", "Create a Memorial Fund" and search “Find a Fund” for Dorothy Granet. 

Please also consider taking everything less seriously and more actively pursuing life’s many delights, both big and small. Hug your family, eat lemon sheet cake for breakfast, play some bingo, order a steak and ask for a lobster on top, listen to “New York, New York” over and over, and toast our beautiful Mom with a cosmo in one hand and some pink champagne in the other.

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