It is with heavy hearts we announce the passing of Todd Allan Grant. After a brief and courageous battle with cancer, he went home to his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on July 17, 2025 at the age of 84.
Todd was born in April 1941, in Los Angeles to Marvin and Marjorie Grant, while his Santa Barbara–rooted parents supported the World War II effort at the Lockheed factory.
Returning to Santa Barbara as a child, faith, family, music, hard work, and open-handed hospitality would shape every season of his life.
After graduating from Santa Barbara High School in 1959, Todd joined the United States Marine Corps. He spent six months on active duty, including time at Camp Pendleton, and later served in the Marine Corps Reserve for six years.
A proud Marine long after he hung up the uniform, he stayed active with the Marine Corps League, serving as treasurer and chaplain of the Santa Barbara Detachment 024 for the last 15 years.
Todd built a reputation in Santa Barbara as a skilled contractor and a steady employer through his company Granco Construction.
A graduate of the Santa Barbara City College carpentry program, he took pride in honest work, stood behind his word, and made sure there was room on the crew for friends who needed a start. Many friends became employees, and many employees became friends for life.
Todd found a love for the cowboy life working on the San Fernando Rey Ranch in the 1960s. He went on to work as a wrangler for the Rancheros Visitadores annual ride through the Santa Barbara countryside.
Eventually, he accompanied the Rancheros Visitadores to play music with the Floyd County Boys, in what became a 40-plus-year tradition. For many years you could find him atop a horse during the Fiesta parades, tipping his hat to a town he loved and that loved him back.
To know Todd was to know his love for music. Receiving a guitar for his 10th birthday set in motion a lifelong passion for music of all kinds. He would spend the next seven decades playing guitar and singing in countless bands and trios, and in his later years for his church.
Most significantly, in 1965 he co-founded the Floyd County Boys, a bluegrass band that would go on to play throughout the U.S. until 2019. Singing, playing guitar, and writing songs were among the great joys of Todd’s life.
You can read Todd’s firsthand account of how folk music shaped his early years as a musician in “The Sixties in Folk Music.”
A loving father to six children, Todd married his first wife Sharone Webster in 1960, with whom he had Jeff, Kim and Jason. He later married Karen Pauli in 1981; together they had three children Heather, Cody and Patrick.
Todd will be remembered as a kind and supportive father, one who would be at your side in an instant if you needed him.
His faith in the Bible and in a faithful God was not something he kept to himself. Todd served on worship teams and led many bible studies over the years.
He opened his door widely — friends down on their luck found a couch and a hot meal; a man who needed work found a day’s pay and a ride to the job site.
Todd is survived by Karen, his wife of 44 years; his children Jeff, Kim, Jason, Heather, Cody and Patrick; brothers Tim and Terry; 11 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Todd’s legacy of kindness, generosity, and deep love for others lives on in his family and friends. His was a life well-ridden, well-worked, well-sung — and above all, well-loved.
A celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. Oct. 18 at South Coast Church, 5814 Cathedral Oaks Road. Light refreshments will follow.
Musicians are welcome to bring an instrument for a jam session in honor of Todd following the celebration of life.