Larry was born in Pike County Missouri and grew up across the Mississippi in Pike County Illinois about 100 miles north of St. Louis. He received his Bachelors Degree in Mathematics from Western Illinois University in Macomb with a second major in Industrial Arts. On August 16, 1962 Larry began work as a Quality Engineer at the Chevrolet St. Louis Assembly Plant assigned to the Corvette program. In December of 1963, he was transferred to Detroit to work in the Chevrolet Central Office Quality Control Department as a Quality Liaison Engineer between the Chevrolet St. Louis Assembly Plant and the DowSmith Plant in Ionia, Michigan where Corvette bodies were outsourced beginning in 1964. In October of 1966 Larry was assigned to General Motors Overseas Operations as Quality Manager in the GM De Venezuela Assembly Plant, Caracas, Venezuela, a 2 year assignment. Larry was nominated by his peers and elected as a Fellow in the American Society for Quality in 1997. Some people of note who influenced Larry's life include Roger S. Firestone, Semen E. "Bunkie" Knudsen, Elliott M. "Pete" Estes and Howard H. Kehrl.