In Memoriam: Fitness friend lost in VA Tech shootings, industry backs memorial fund

A friend of the fitness industry was killed in the Virginia Tech University massacre in mid-April, and a memorial fund has been established to aid his family, Jerry Greenspan, owner of Exercise Equipment Experts and Columbus Fitness Consultants, has informed SNEWS®.

Kevin Granata, Ph.D., was a two-time Ohio State University alumni, a biomechanical engineer — a field directly linked to fitness — and a professor at Virginia Tech. He was in his office on the third floor of the engineering building and ran down the stairway to attempt to intervene in the situation and was shot and killed.

Granata, 45, leaves behind his wife and three children ages 11 to 14.

Greenspan and Granata majored together in biomechanical engineering at OSU’s graduate biomedical engineering program in the early 1990s, developing a close friendship that lasted until Granata’s death. He spent eight years at the Biodynamics Laboratory working on a model of spinal biomechanics and was continuing his work at Virginia Tech. The output from that model could be used for fitness training, rehabilitation or ergonomics, Greenspan explained.

In an effort to provide financial support to Granata’s family, Greenspan has established The Kevin P. Granata Memorial Fund with the goal of raising $50,000. Twenty-five percent of the gross profits — approximately 85 percent to 90 percent of the net profits — from exercise equipment sales at Exercise Equipment Experts and from personal training at Columbus Fitness Consultants between April 16-May 31 will be donated to the fund.

Additionally, several of Greenspan’s manufacturing partners have donated fitness equipment to be raffled off with proceeds going to the fund. Manufacturers that have donated are SportsArt, Bodyguard, Diamondback, Bodycraft, Hampton, WaterRower and Spirit. He said that any and all additional equipment donations will be gratefully accepted.

An account for the memorial fund has been established at US Bank under The Kevin P. Granata Memorial Fund. Individuals can donate to this fund at any US Bank or send a check made payable to The Kevin P. Granata Memorial Fund to: Exercise Equipment Experts, attn: Kevin P. Granata Memorial Fund, 1640 W. Lane Ave., Columbus, OH 43221.

For more information about donating product, contact Greenspan at getufit1@msn.com.