Obituary: Lawrence Greenspan, of New Milford

NEW MILFORD, CT — Lawrence Greenspan of New Milford died March 18, 2019, age 84.

Larry was born October 3,1934 to Arthur and Lillian (Fein) Greenspan. He grew up in Manhattan and graduated from the Franklin School at the age of 15. In 1957, he met the love of his life, Patricia Pendergast, a graduate of Queen's College. Nine months later they were married and soon had 2 children, Paul and Vicki.

Larry graduated from Hofstra University in 1972. In 1976 their family moved from Long Island to New Milford, where Larry began contributing to the town in many ways. He was on the Town Council and the Zoning Commission where he fought for "smart growth" land use regulations, farmland protection, and open space acquisition. He was President of Merryall Community Center and President of New Milford Trust for Historic Preservation. He was a lifelong Democrat and a member of St. John's Episcopal Church.

A true renaissance man, Larry worked as an administrator of a psychiatric hospital, an inspector of radio wave towers atop NY city skyscrapers, a cigar salesman, and as the Director of the Martin Luther King Community Health Center.

Larry enjoyed hiking the western CT trails, crisp fall weather, and splitting logs. He was a member of Mensa, did differential calculus to relax, and could complete the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle, in pen.

Larry was a lifelong fighter for justice. He was a champion of the underdog, rooting for the NY Mets from their first season in 1962 when they went 40-120. He loved his children and grandchildren, Beethoven, horrible puns, dark chocolate, Henny Youngman jokes, his Mets and Giants, Winston Churchill, Civil War history, travel, raw bar, and bone-dry Tanqueray martinis. Larry hated bigotry, genealogy, pretentious people, his middle name, Klezmer music, the Yankees, and cucumbers.

Larry is survived by his best friend and wife of 62 years Patricia, his son Paul and daughter-in-law Christine Wisniewski of Wellfleet, MA, his daughter Victoria and son-in-law Jack Newton of Austin, TX, and his four grandchildren, Sophie and Eli Greenspan and Alexandra and Emmett Newton.

Larry's family thanks Dr. Tyler and the staff at New Milford VNA Hospice and New Milford Hospital who cared for Larry.

A funeral service will be held at 12:00 on March 23 at St. John's Episcopal Church at 7 Whittlesey Ave., New Milford. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to St. John's Episcopal Church or to VNA Hospice (68 Park Lane Rd., New Milford, CT 06776).