Joseph D. Grant

Joseph Donohoe Grant (1858-1942) was born in San Francisco and graduated from the University of California. In 1881 he began work in the wholesale dry goods business co-founded by his father, Murphy, Grant & Co., eventually rising to President of the company in 1904. After the company was sold in 1912, Grant became a leader in Western industry, serving as first vice-president of General Petroleum Corporation, president of Columbia Steel Corporation, and chairman of the board of California-Oregon Power Company. He was a member of the Stanford University Board of Trustees from the university's opening in 1891 until his death and was a major donor to the university. In 1918, Grant was co-founder of the Save-the-Redwoods League and spent much of the rest of his life helping to preserve the redwood forests in California. Grant Ranch County Park was property that had been Grant's ranch and was acquired by Santa Clara county in 1975.