Named “Person of the Year” by the National Center for Death Education, he has served as a member of the Professional Advisory Board of the Foundation of Thanatology at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center of New York, Chairperson of the Massachusetts Ecumenical Council on Health and Morality. He was a founder of the Good Grief Program that provides crisis intervention to schools and community groups to help children and adolescents when a friend, teacher, or parent is terminally ill or dies. He is also one of the founders of Hospice West as well as the Samaritans which is devoted to suicide prevention and counseling.

Rabbi Grollman attended the University of Maryland and the University of Cincinnati. He entered Hebrew College and was ordained in 1950 with the degree of Master of Hebrew Letters. In 1975, he was awarded a doctorate from the Hebrew Union College. His graduate work was done at Boston University School of Theology and Harvard’s Department of Community Psychiatry.

Awards

• Father of the Flame Award from World Gathering of Bereavement 2006
• Center for Death Education and Bioethics 2006
• Death Education Award for 2000 by the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC)
• Lifetime Achievement Award from Children Hospice International in honor of his compassionate efforts—an award has also been established in his name
• Hospice Care Award for "his significant contribution to the understanding of the plight of the terminally ill and the bereaved"
• Avery Weisman Award from the American Institute of Life-Threatening Illness and Loss
• Distinguished Human Service Award from Yeshiva University
• Compassionate Friends Award