Joseph Grado died in retirement February 6, 2015
Quoted from the Grado Labs website:
It is with a heavy heart for the Grado family to say that Joseph Grado, founder of Grado Labs and inventor of the stereo moving coil phono cartridge, passed away this morning at the age of 90. In the early 1950s, Joseph began using the skills he gained as a master watchmaker to start crafting phono cartridges on his kitchen table in Brooklyn, New York. He went on to clear out the Grado family fruit store around the corner and in 1953, Grado Laboratories was born.
Joseph guided Grado until 1990 when he passed the torch to his nephew, John Grado, and our headphone era began. For the past two decades, he enjoyed living in South Carolina building and tinkering with anything to do with audio. The Grado family holds Uncle Joe in the highest regard, and without him, not only would we still be working in a fruit store, but we would have never started making headphones.
Joe Grado was a legendary figure in American audio, and perhaps the only one who left the company he bulit in family hands to continue the tradition. Though a dealer for Grado since the late 70s I never met him, but in a way I knew knew him through his products by their quality, value, and the Grado spirit of constant refinement. He left a fine legacy.
Wylie