Columnist and longtime associate Joe Granese launched The Current and our readers into the Computer Age with skill, humor and finesse



Our readers and the Catamaran Media family lost a talented writer and a dear friend Friday, April 11 with the sudden death of longtime columnist Joseph Granese.

Joe was stricken while leaving work at the accounting firm Reilly, Matthews, Bononcini and Morowitz in Linwood. He was 55 years old.

Joe was many things to many people. To our readers he was known most recently for his columns The Wire and The Untangled Web, in which on alternating weeks he made technology and the Internet entertaining and accessible to everyone. But for nearly 20 years he has informed and entertained us in various publications and under numerous headings, all in the distinctive voice of a writer with an untiring enthusiasm for sharing what he knows. And he knew much.

His ability to write about almost anything befitted a man whose passions ranged from baseball to birds and cinema to Japanese culture.

“I never left a conversation with Joe without having learned something,” said Rob Seitzinger, editor of The Gazette Newspapers in Cape May County, a sister publication to The Current. “He knew so much about so many things. He could write columns about opera or cartoons with the same degree of energy and expertise.”
Just as he shared his knowledge with our readers, so he shared it with this news organization and propelled it into the Computer Age.

“My earliest memories of Joe were of him helping out around the office as we transitioned some 20 years ago from the age of paper into the age of computers,” recalled publisher Rick Travers, who bought his first computer from Joe.

“For our first foray into the world of computers, we selected not to have our computers linked together by wires or cables. Rather, we choose the ‘Sneaker Network.’  It was Joe’s phrase for copying files onto floppy disks and then putting on your sneakers and walking the disk over to another person in another room,” Travers said.

That was when Travers had one paper, The SandPaper of Ocean City. Joe remained with him for nearly 20 years as the business grew to three seasonal papers and a dozen year-round editions. 

Joe was the perfect guy to have around amid so many changes, as he was always ready for a new challenge. Travers, who had dinner with Granese the night before he died, said Joe was as fired up about writing and newspapers as ever.

“I spoke often with Joe, and he was a frequent dinner companion,” Travers said. “He was all excited to see the entire technology edition in both the print and online form.”

After running Jonathan’s, an Apple computer store in Northfield for a number of years, Joe landed at Reilly, Matthews, Bononcini and Morowitz, a small CPA firm in Linwood, where he was in charge of information technology. There he also ran Accountant’s Computer Technology, which supplies computer systems for accounting firms.

Working alongside him at the firm for 12 years, and for several years at the computer store before that, was his assistant Richard Evans. Like his persona in print, Joe was a man of many facets among his colleagues as well.

“He was a very versatile guy,” said Evans, who explained that by versatile he meant “everything from being a regular guy and going out with friends to a ballgame, to going out to the opera.”

When asked how his friend was able to get his hands on the latest software, games, gizmos and gadgets that were the focal point of so many columns, Evans said Joe had mastered the art of persuading companies to send him samples for review. 

“He had more free stuff than anybody else I know,” Evans said, evoking a term that was the subject of many a column over the years. “And not just free stuff; he gets the good free stuff.”

While the self-described “geek” is known by many readers for his technology writing, he got to spread his writerly wings for special projects and a variety of features for the company’s seasonal papers in Cape May County.  From music to profiles, events to fads, Joe took it on in addition to a special column that talked about what to do when it’s not a beach day.

“His popular ‘Rainy Day Man’ column helped local residents and tourists alike find non-beach-related events and activities,” Travers noted.  “In addition, he routinely contributed feature stories for the weekly newspapers that Catamaran Media published and for the summer publications.”

His consistent quality, productivity and reliability were an editor’s and a publisher’s dream.

“He could be counted on to write on a wide variety of subjects and never missed a deadline,” Travers said.  He was reminded of the fact when Ocean City lost one its most dedicated supporters of the musical arts not too long ago.

“When we learned of Esther Weil's passing earlier in the year, he contributed an excellent piece on short notice, helping local residents better understand her invaluable contribution to the community,” Travers said.

James FitzPatrick, editor of The Current newspapers, first got to know Joe in 1993 when he went to work for The SandPaper in Ocean City and Joe was a columnist. 

“I can write a long list of the ways that Joe was good to me, from introducing me to the Internet, to bailing me out of computer crashes, to coming through without complaint every time I made a last-minute request for a story,” FitzPatrick said. “But what I will miss most of all is the kind of man he was: honest, loyal, dependable and thoughtful, and most of all passionate about life and learning.”

For all of the high tech and high culture that fell within the vast domain of his so-called “Granese Institute of Technology,” no subject trumped his enthusiasm for sports, and especially those fighting Phillies.

In May 1997, back when his column was known as Random Access, he found a way to work what he feels about his Phillies and his home teams into a story on what was then a much-talked-about contest between a chess master and a supercomputer.  Fortunately, we followed Joe’s advice and backed up our data, so we have it here to share and enjoy one more time.

“I've always been a homer. I'm just the kind of person who can't help but root, root, root for the home team. This facet of my personality has not made for an easy life. I've had to cheer for the 1972 Phillies, the Kuharich and Kotite versions of the Eagles, and even the pre-Lindros Flyers.

“Still, I believe in the divine assignment of home teams. At the moment of your birth, a greater power, through geographical and emotional influence, provides you with the genetic material necessary for you to choose your favorite teams. My proximity to the Philadelphia area was the main reason I became a Phillies fan. It was more than just dumb luck that I did not choose to root for the A's. It was inspiration.

“As the media reports news of a current major event, I've found my theory tested. In collegiate, individual, and international events, I've had little trouble choosing my favorite. I always root for Americans over competitors from other countries, Philadelphians over Pittsburghers, ospreys over lesser avian species and anybody over New Yorkers.

“This time, I've been posed with a problem. I can't decide whether to root for man or machine in the bitter rematch between world chess champion Garry Kasparov and the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue.”

Only one man could have written that, and now he’s gone. Say it ain’t so, Joe.

We welcome you to share your comments and memories of Joe Granese. Email them to current@shorenewstoday.com.  They will be posted on our bonus coverage blog, http://bonus.shorenewsnowtv.com/. Also, you can read some of Joe’s old stories at http://www.shorenewstoday.com/columns/Archives/granese1.htm.