BRIMFIELD TWP: Former Brimfield Fire Chief Lloyd Grund was found dead early Wednesday morning after his vehicle left state Route 43 and struck a house.Grund, who lived in Kent, was pronounced dead at the scene by the Portage County Coroner’s office. An investigation continues, but Grund’s family said he may have had a stroke or heart attack preceding the accident. He was four days from his 76th birthday.Grund was northbound just past Howe Road at 4:30 a.m. when his Dodge Grand Caravan drove off the left side of the road, struck a curb, a woodpile and a tree and then a house, according to the Ravenna post of the State Highway Patrol. No occupants of the house were injured.Grund was born Victor Lloyd Grund in Brimfield in 1935. At the age of 17, he began a firefighting career that spanned 37 years.The Brimfield Fire Department was staffed with volunteers at first, so Grund also held a full-time job at the Chrysler Stamping Plant in Twinsburg, his daughter, Darlene Guillard said.It was at the plant that Grund spotted a man falling between a set of railroad tracks and found him unresponsive. He restarted his heart with CPR, an effort for which he was formally honored.Over the years he also served as a sheriff’s deputy, and spent time as a dispatcher for the Berea post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, she said.Grund retired from Chrysler in the 1980s but remained with the fire department, eventually becoming its assistant fire chief and then fire chief, a post he held for five years.He retired from the department in 1991, motivated by a heart condition that had caused him to have coronary five-bypass surgery at the age of 46.But Grund also had many passions away from the safety services.He was an avid gardener, selling corn and potatoes to area restaurants and preserving a variety of crops for his family.“We canned vegetables for most of our childhood,” Guillard recalled.His love of agriculture led him to become a 4-H leader, and he always looked forward to Portage County Randolph Fair.Grund and his family also operated a Kettle Korn stand for many years at amusement parks and area festivals.“He saw it online and was interested so he went to Oklahoma and picked one up,” Guillard said.For several years in the 1990s, Grund allowed Field High School marching band students to work at his stands to make money for trips to Disney World. Guillard estimates her father also donated $12,000 to those trips.Grund was known for his sense of humor.“He was a one-liner kind of guy,” Guillard said.He was also known for his compassion.“He and mom started with nothing, so he was very sympathetic to people who were having a hard time,” she said. His efforts ranged from making food baskets for needy families at Christmas to plowing drives for elderly neighbors.Patty Harjung, administrative assistant for the Brimfield police chief, knew Grund from his working years and recalled him as “a super nice guy. He was cheerful. Every time he saw you he was happy to see you.”Brimfield Fire Chief Robert Keller said he met Grund after he retired and will remember him as an avid photographer.“He took lots of photos, and a lot of them around the fire department over the years,” Keller said.Grund is survived by Shirley Grund, his wife of 54 years, and their four children, Carla Grund, Mark Grund, Darlene Guillard and Valerie Beyer. He also leaves 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.Funeral arrangements are pending, but Brimfield police and fire departments are making plans to be a part of them.Keller said representatives from both departments have agreed to be pall bearers, and his department will have ladder trucks form an arch with a flag over state Route 43 for the funeral procession.Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.