Hyman Grossman, former head of public finance for S&P, dies at 89

Hyman Grossman, former head of public finance at S&P and longtime industry veteran known for expanding S&P’s public finance analytics team from its early days into the giant it now is, as well as great friend, family man and mentor to many, has passed away at the age of 89.

“He was an analyst covering the state when I first started in the business thirty years ago,” said Ben Watkins, director of Florida’s Bond Division. “He would come down every year and spend two days or three days interviewing agency heads all across the state, as well as people in the legislative and executive branch with his notepad and pencil asking probing questions about state finances,” Watkins added. “A remarkable career, the cornerstone of credit analysis and one of the original industry icons.”

Watkins said that perhaps most notably in those early days, Grossman would be accompanied by a young assistant credit analyst. “And that person was Robin Prunty,” Watkins said. “At a point in time when there weren’t a lot of women involved in the business, he was responsible for launching her extraordinary career and Robin’s many accomplishments speak for themselves.”

“He was a tremendous mentor, analytical leader and a really big presence in the municipal bond industry,” said Robin Prunty, retired former managing director and chief analytical officer for S&P Global Ratings, US and International Public Finance at S&P Global Ratings. “He was a great mentor, a great friend, really cared about the industry and was one of the early and really active and vocal analysts about the need for better transparency in the municipal market.”

Grossman spent most of his long and storied career at S&P, but began his career, alongside Claire Cohen, at Dun & Bradstreet.

“He was a very knowledgeable and thorough analyst, mentored generations of analysts at S&P and actively tried to impart that knowledge and make sure that all our analysts were always prepared and had a good understanding of all the credit metrics that we look at,” Prunty said. “He really was a force in our industry both inside S&P and the broader industry in general.”

John Hallacy, president of John Hallacy Consulting and formerly a managing director in Assured Guaranty’s Public Finance Department, as well as a program director at The Bond Buyer, worked closely with Grossman in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“Hy was a legend and a great mentor to me and many others in the business,” Hallacy said. “He really helped establish S&P’s reputation in the public finance business back in the day,” he added. “I worked extensively with Hy, we went all around the nation together and he took me to Texas where he was very well regarded in the early days when Texas just started its big expansion push in terms of demographics. But he was well respected around the country.”

Grossman had a large impact in how state and local governments deal with pensions and was instrumental in having municipalities start funding pension liabilities on an actuarial basis, Hallacy said. 

Other projects Grossman had his hands in were the Detroit Fiscal Stabilization Bonds in the early 1980s, and the New York City  and Cleveland, Ohio bankruptcy proceedings in the mid to late 1970s, and was very involved in developing the Municipal Assistance Corporation as well as the beginnings of the Local Government Assistance Corporation.

“He did a lot in terms of doing the restructurings of debt to avoid problems and did that in multiple locations,” Hallacy said. “But he was involved in every major undertaking at the time.”

He also gave his knowledge back in other ways, such as through municipal analyst and accounting organizations, having served on the National Federation of Municipal Analysts Board of Governors and was very involved with the formation of the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council in 1984.

“Hy was always a gentleman and attune to NFMA initiatives and activities long after he left the NFMA Board of Governors, having served in 1984-1985,” said Lisa Good, executive director of NFMA. “I had the pleasure of serving as Awards Committee chair in 1987 when Hy was the recipient of the career achievement award at our Annual Conference in San Francisco.”

Watkins said Grossman was extremely dedicated to his work.

“His entire being was wrapped up in an industry that he loved,” Watkins said. “But I can tell you he loved a good glass of red wine. A man of good taste, both in personnel as well as cuisine.”

Grossman was also very involved in the practice and traditions of his Jewish faith, and was very family-oriented.

“He was very easy to talk to, very easy to ask questions, wasn’t condescending at all and always defended his people, the people working under him,” Hallacy said. “Sometimes those jobs get pressured,” he added. “You got somebody, some prominent public official bearing down on you and is not happy about the rating and he was very good about defending his analysts.”

“What I appreciated about Hy is just the integrity that he brought to work every day and always spoke the truth,” Prunty said. “Being at a rating agency, you have to deliver tough messages and he never shied away from that. He always acted with a lot of integrity and I think everyone that knew him really respected that about him, that he would give his honest views and didn’t care if it had repercussions,” she added. “He was going to call a spade a spade when it came to credit related issues or accounting standards and was very vocal about things that were important to him.”

He is survived by his wife Arline Grossman, children Neil Grossman and Andrew Grossman, his sister Susanna Zakon, and grandchildren Devin Grossman, Logan Grossman, Scott Grossman and William Grossman.

Interment will take place at Beth Israel Cemetery in Woodbridge, New Jersey.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Grossman’s memory can be made to B’nai Brith International or Epilepsy Services of New Jersey.

“The bonds have been fully retired and the names have been terminated but they live on in the memory,” Hallacy said.