Despite the Great Depression, his enterprise fared exceptionally well compared to others, and he soon became a major landowner in Amherst.
Upon reaching retirement age, he downscaled his holdings and donated large portions to the Town of Amherst and to Amherst College.
Ulysses Grant Groff died in an automobile accident in Massachusetts two weeks before his 85th birthday.
He was the father of real estate developer and businessman Charles Wister Groff.