Shortly before his death, Mark funded a trust for the preservation of Griff’s Bar & Billiards in perpetuity.
Mark Griffin.... Thank you
- Thread starter Island Drive
- Start date
Yes, who will ever forget our scotch doubles 3-cushion match at Griffs? You and me against John and Mike Massey. Seems like yesterday.
What a incredibly generous gesture for his longtime current customers and employees, as well as his future customers and employees.
Please don’t anyone take this the wrong way, but being financially successful, having no current spouse and no kids (at least none mentioned in the obit) made working this out a whole lot easier than if he’d had numerous family members fighting over his estate, which is all too common. I’m guessing there were countless other people in Mark’s life including various current and former family members that he’s generously gifted to.
That Mark accepted his fastly approaching mortality and worked out all these critically important arrangements in advance (which few of us are able to do), says as much about the man as any of his accomplishments.
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I knew Mark very well, he really was happy with Griff’s after the dust settled.
When he first took it over-it was previously Pool Sharks which had several owners(opened in early 94 by Mark Trainer), Griff pumped a ton of $ into it as it was run down and was essentially a shell of a pool room that needed cleaned out.
After he got it cleaned up he made lots of changes in his personal and biz life. He pondered selling it for a while. He didn’t and settled in and did his thing, turning it into the strongest pool room in Vegas in the last 30 years.
He was happy and very proud of that room at the end of the day. As I biz man I can relate as some times you open a biz and end up changing your mind about it. Mark decided to keep and promote Griffs. That was a huge win for pool.
I called him and set up a $ match there once a few years ago. As we were friends and he knew that I knew the biz. Was easy peasy and worked out for everyone. Mark was a great biz man.
All my biz dealings and conversations with him about biz, money, successes and failures, Mark was always open and honest. He was very open with me about $, profits, losses as I was him. We shared lots of things only to grow stronger as biz men together sharing our experiences. Never a pissing match. I’ll miss that.
I won’t get into $ here other than to say I wasn’t aware he did this. However he had the $ to do it and I’m so glad he did. He gave back to pool in a huge way. It’s one hell of a room that bears his name and legacy. I was wondering what was going to become of it when I heard he was sick. Now we know.
It’s a sad story with a happy ending. I’ll miss my friend, I’ll go to his room until it’s over-what ever that means. I hope it outlasts me, it should. He built one hell of a room, I know Vegas well and there’s no reason that room should fail.
Fatboy
When he first took it over-it was previously Pool Sharks which had several owners(opened in early 94 by Mark Trainer), Griff pumped a ton of $ into it as it was run down and was essentially a shell of a pool room that needed cleaned out.
After he got it cleaned up he made lots of changes in his personal and biz life. He pondered selling it for a while. He didn’t and settled in and did his thing, turning it into the strongest pool room in Vegas in the last 30 years.
He was happy and very proud of that room at the end of the day. As I biz man I can relate as some times you open a biz and end up changing your mind about it. Mark decided to keep and promote Griffs. That was a huge win for pool.
I called him and set up a $ match there once a few years ago. As we were friends and he knew that I knew the biz. Was easy peasy and worked out for everyone. Mark was a great biz man.
All my biz dealings and conversations with him about biz, money, successes and failures, Mark was always open and honest. He was very open with me about $, profits, losses as I was him. We shared lots of things only to grow stronger as biz men together sharing our experiences. Never a pissing match. I’ll miss that.
I won’t get into $ here other than to say I wasn’t aware he did this. However he had the $ to do it and I’m so glad he did. He gave back to pool in a huge way. It’s one hell of a room that bears his name and legacy. I was wondering what was going to become of it when I heard he was sick. Now we know.
It’s a sad story with a happy ending. I’ll miss my friend, I’ll go to his room until it’s over-what ever that means. I hope it outlasts me, it should. He built one hell of a room, I know Vegas well and there’s no reason that room should fail.
Fatboy
Mark was great for pool. I first met him when he began sponsering the Swanee events at his rooms in San Diego. He was an easy guy to talk to and he ran a first class tournament. It's no wonder he brought the BCA out of the dooldrums and into the limelight. RIP my friend.
I’m not either Lou
