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July 29, 2020

Former MetroHartford Alliance CEO Griebel dead at 71 following accident

Oz Griebel in downtown Hartford.
By HBJ Staff

Former MetroHartford Alliance CEO and two-time gubernatorial candidate Oz Griebel has died from injuries he sustained while he was jogging in Pennsylvania last week, a source confirmed to the Hartford Business Journal.

He was 71. 

A statement released by his family Wednesday said: “Oz Griebel passed away on July 29 as a result of complications related to the pedestrian/motor vehicle accident he was involved in while jogging on July 21. The Griebel family is very appreciative of the outpouring of support they've received since the accident and will share information about services once arrangements have been made. They continue to ask for privacy at this time.”

Griebel was hit by a car while he was jogging in Pennsylvania. His family released a statement last week that he was receiving medical care, but didn’t provide any further details. 

In a statement late Wednesday, Gov. Ned Lamont offered condolences to the Griebel family.

“Oz Griebel’s heart was with the State of Connecticut – he loved this state and the people who live in it, and he enthusiastically believed that its best days are ahead," the governor said. "I loved listening to his spirited energy whenever he spoke about the opportunity to make Connecticut and the Hartford region an even better place to live and work. We can all take a page from his commitment to work across the aisle and remove politics from policy. He will be missed, and I extend my deepest sympathy to his family. There is no place like Oz, and there was no one like Oz.”

HBJ File Photo
Oz Griebel

Griebel was fluent in public policy questions as the president of the MetroHartford Alliance, the region’s largest business group, and a frequent contributor to government task forces, consulted by Republicans and Democrats. But he struggled to convert that into political capital in either race.

He finished third in the 2010 GOP primary behind Tom Foley and Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele and third again in the 2018 general, trailing Democrat Ned Lamont and Republican Bob Stefanowski.

With what appeared to be weak fields in both parties in 2018, Griebel saw a narrow path to a victory between Lamont and Stefanowski that never materialized. He ran with a Democrat, lawyer and gun control activist Monte Frank. They both had a serious command of issues, but they never found a political or fundraising base.

The high point of their campaign was winning the endorsement of The Hartford Courant on Oct. 28.

“The state of Connecticut is underwater. Years of complacent Democratic and Republican leadership have done little to right this ship,” the paper wrote. “The Courant recommends a new leader, one not beholden to political parties or to the narrow partisan loyalties that control them. We endorse the independent candidate Oz Griebel for governor.”

After qualifying for the ballot that year by petitioning, Griebel would genially tell reporters there was a book to be written if he and Frank won — an assertion he never made without a broad smile. Still, Griebel insisted that qualifying for the ballot was a significant milestone,  a step nonetheless to a more serious conversation with voters.

“This is where I think this thing catches fire,” Griebel said. “Now that we’re on the ballot — a lot of people have told us from the beginning, ‘Until you’re on the ballot, I don’t know if I want to write you a check. I don’t know how excited I want to get about this.’ ”

At the midpoint of a one-hour debate sponsored by the Connecticut Broadcasters Association in mid-October, Griebel memorably boiled over with what he later called frustration at the failure of anyone to specifically address how the state could close a projected budget shortfall of $2 billion and improve an aging transportation infrastructure.

“You have no solutions, Bob!” Griebel yelled.

“Trust me, ladies and gentlemen,” Stefanowski said.

“Oh yeah, trust me,” Griebel said.

Griebel said later he was equally frustrated with Lamont, but Stefanowski deserved special scorn for his outlandish promise to eliminate the income tax, the state’s single largest source of revenue, without raising the sales tax or finding other new sources of revenue.

The outburst was a rarity for Griebel, a theatrical moment that briefly and belatedly defined him as a fresh and independent voice.

He and Frank remained a political team, working on election reform issues in Connecticut with SAM, the Serve America Movement led by David Jolly, a former congressman. Griebel led the SAM-CT Task Force.

A CT Mirror report was used in this story.

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