Eastern NC barbecue giant and hall of fame pitmaster dies at 90
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Steve Grady, pioneering whole hog pitmaster, died at 90 in Seven Springs.
- Grady co-founded Grady’s Barbecue in 1986, now NC’s last Black-owned hog joint.
- Grady entered national and state barbecue halls of fame in 2024 and 2023.
Steve Grady, a hall of fame pitmaster renowned for whole hog barbecue and painstaking dedication to the craft, has died. He was 90.
An online obituary said Grady died Tuesday, Aug. 26 at his home in Seven Springs. The Facebook page for Grady’s Barbecue posted a tribute early Thursday morning.
“Tuesday, our world grew quieter as we said goodbye to Mr. Steve Grady, pitmaster, teacher, and legend, who passed away peacefully in his home at the age of 90, surrounded by family,” the post reads. “For decades, Mr. Grady poured his gift into every whole hog he cooked the old-fashioned way, slow smoked over oak and hickory coals. He built more than a barbecue tradition; he built a standard of excellence, humility, and care that shaped Grady’s BBQ.”
As second careers, Steve Grady and his wife Gerri opened Grady’s Barbecue surrounded by Wayne County farmland outside of Goldsboro on July 4, 1986. With a cinderblock smokehouse and simple small dining room, the Gradys built one of the most storied whole hog restaurants in Eastern North Carolina.
He had learned to smoke hogs from his father and grandfather, and Gerri Grady filled the rest of the menu with country sides like butter beans, steamed cabbage and black-eyed peas.
Grady’s Barbecue endures today as North Carolina’s last Black-owned whole hog restaurant.
Barbecue Hall of Fame
In 2024, Steve Grady was inducted into the American Royal Barbecue Hall of Fame, a top national honor for pitmasters. Grady’s Barbecue was also inducted into the inaugural class of the North Carolina BBQ Hall of Fame last year.
On Wednesday night, North Carolina’s barbecue community began mourning a gentle giant.
“We lost a legend,” Southern Smoke owner Matthew Register posted on social media. “He was a true gentleman and a legendary pitmaster. No glitz, no glamour, no cameras, no fancy buildings, and no PR. Just doing something so simplistic yet so hard every day, not for fame, just because he loved it.”
While barbecue enjoys a resurgence nationally and in North Carolina, a new generation of pitmasters has stepped up to carry on this cherished foodway.
In Grady’s Barbecue, Steve Grady offered a taste of the past, of barbecue’s earliest origins, a glimpse into a time when pits dug in the ground smoked a pig maybe a couple times a year. He continued working in his namesake restaurant well into his 80s, seasoning pigs simply with throws of salt from a box and an artful hours-long smoke.
“Your impact and influence on the legacy of barbecue will be forever remembered,” Prime Barbecue owner Christopher Prieto posted on social media.
This story was originally published August 28, 2025 at 7:51 AM with the headline "Eastern NC barbecue giant and hall of fame pitmaster dies at 90."
