from the USTA Communications Department

Columbus, OH — Richard Granat, 66, died Oct. 14, 2015.

Mr. Granat was a popular Standardbred owner in Chicago during the 1990s and early 2000s. He was a fixture around the backstretches of Balmoral, Sportsman’s Park, and Hawthorne where he was friends with virtually everyone. He loved to go to the markets in Chicago and buy huge bags of carrots and painstakingly cut them into bite-size pieces for his horses in the Ken Rucker barn.

A twice-wounded U.S. Army veteran of the war in Vietnam, he was a fearless man who loved horses and horse racing and was always ready and willing to help backstretch people out in any way he could.

Mr. Granat was a son of the late John and Bernice (nee Jasulitis); loving brother of the late James (Carol), John (Vivian), Joseph (Delores), the late Jerome (Mary), Steve (Sharon), Lawrence (Esperanza), Jenny, the late Barbara, Josie, the late Mary and Patricia (Sam) Venegas; and a dear uncle to many nieces and nephews.