Michael Kravitsky III, founder of Grasshopper Lawns in Larksville, Pa., died on March 26. He was 81.
Kravitsky III, a founding member of the Lawn Care Association of Pennsylvania, started in the lawn care industry in 1964 with two Lawn-A-Mat franchises. “For two cents a square foot, a technician would spray on weed control, aerate, roll and apply seed and fertilizer in one pass,” Grasshopper Lawns’ website says about its Lawn-A-Mat days. “Customers, we call them clients now, signed up for four applications.”
Kravitsky III left the now defunct franchise system and founded Grasshopper Lawns in the 1980s. His sons, Michael IV and Shawn, run the company today. Landscape Management profiled Grasshopper Lawns in the July 2011 cover story, “Sewing the seeds of history.”
“We kicked our dad out officially about two years ago,” teases Kravitsky IV in the article. “I remember being 5 years old and going with my dad on estimates.”
