Larry was like a grandfather, an uncle, a cousin-he was family. When he introduced me to friends or colleagues I was sometimes the niece, sometimes the granddaughter-I think technically speaking he was my first cousin twice removed-but this is a mere technicality. We were close. He and his wife lived around the corner so shabbos visits were frequent. There was always a story or a joke to be told-it was always worthwhile.
He was a pilot in WWII. One story he told me was of when his plane was shot down in Japan. He was sitting in the raft, alone, waiting to be rescued. Part of the emergency kit came with a radio to build to communicate. He said it took him hours and hours to build and finally it was finished-but it didn't work. Larry's theory is that it was never supposed to work-it was just something to keep you busy while you were waiting to be found.
He was a world famous biochemist with many many scientific achievements. I remember at one point he semi-retired from doing labwork because he said he was taking away grant money from the many graduate students that he trained that continued on in science. When I was little he would always tell me to come to his lab and he could make me lemonade with citric acid, sugar, and water.
Larry Grossman passed away from Alzheimer's Disease-but left this world after a fulfilling life of love, family, kindness, humor, and science.
I love you Larry.
