At age sixteen Grossman and a handful of other boys formed the "Junior Conservative Association of Toronto".
He persuaded Grossman to run in his ward against the Labor-Progressive Party (as the Communists were known) candidate who had narrowly been defeated during the previous year's election.
Grossman went on to serve under Premier John Robarts as Chief Liquor Commissioner and Minister of Reform Institutions (now Correctional Services).
During his nearly eight years as minister Grossman became renowned throughout North America and Europe for his innovative and progressive penal reforms.
He introduced Ontario's tax credit program to assist the elderly and low income families and eliminated much of the red tape that generally plagues a tax-collecting Ministry.
[2] After retiring from public life in 1975, Allan Grossman served as chairman of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (Canada) until 1984 and he worked on his son's campaigns for the Ontario PC leadership in 1985 and afterwards served as a volunteer advisor to Larry and the Ontario Tory caucus.
In 1985, a biography was published, Unlikely Tory: The Life and Politics of Allan Grossman by Peter Oliver ISBN 0-88619-049-5.