Lawrence Raymond Coffey, Jr. was born to Violet and Lawrence R. Coffey, Sr. on 7 Nov 1938 in Illinois. Larry was the middle child between his older sister Pidge and his younger brother Denny. Larry graduated from Mt. Carmel High School in Chicago, where he excelled in sports and was a good student. At age 17 he joined the Class of 1960. A Chicago newspaper reported that he was the youngest cadet in his class.

At West Point, Larry was active in the Catholic Chapel Squad. He also was a member of the Handball Club, the Weight Lifting Club and the Ski Club. Larry played 150 lb. football for a brief period until an in­jury curtailed his participation, and he was on the gymnastics team during Plebe year.

Larry was a rough-and-tumble kid, nicknamed “Irish,” and ran with a fringe crowd on the south side of Chicago while growing up. In spite of this tough-guy im­age that he carried to West Point, he had a dry sense of humor, was smart and helped his Plebe year roommate with technical subjects on numerous occasions. Larry used to tell his children about the hours he spent walking Central Area during his Plebe year. He talked about classmate Charley Otstott, who was first in the class academically and later First Captain of the Corps of Cadets and the stripes he wore “from collar to cuff” and Larry’s recollection of occasionally sit­ting ahead of Charley in class. Larry never indicated that he enjoyed or missed his time at West Point because of his general dislike of having someone telling him what to do. He was forever shaped by West Point, how­ever, and carried the values from West Point through the rest of his life.

Following graduation and attendance at the Basic Artillery Officer Course, Larry joined the 1st Battalion, 60th Air Defense Artillery, for a tour of duty on a Nike Site in the Chicago area. He resigned his commis­sion in 1963.

After graduation, Larry married his high school sweetheart, Adeline (Tiny) F. Dunne, in spite of her Naval Academy brothers: Bob, Tony and Jerry, a source of entertain­ment every fall during the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia. Tony Dunne was Larry’s best friend and had provided the introduc­tion to his younger sister Tiny. Larry was always grateful for that introduction be­cause of the joy she gave to him. Tiny and Larry immediately started a family. Lynn was born in 1961, Larry III in 1962, Laura in 1963, Lee Ellen in 1964 (two sets of “Irish twins” living up to his childhood nickname) and Tony in 1970. Larry instilled a strong work ethic and sense of responsibility in all his children. He did so with the same tough exterior that he always had, but underneath his children knew he was warm hearted and loved them dearly and just wanted the best for them.

All five children married and had chil­dren. Lynn married Dan Hamstra and had three children; Rachel, Tim and Zach. Larry married Mary Cox and had five children; Colleen, Larry IV (Mac), Matthew, Allison and Jimmy. Laura married Dr. Rob Girgis and had three children; Alyssa, Robbie and Emily. Lee Ellen married John Wilson and had three children; Greg, Molly and Megan. Tony married Jennifer Jacobs and had three children; Anna, Joe and Katie.

Professionally, Larry worked for an electronics firm as a sales engineer in Los Angeles after leaving the Army. He then re­turned to Chicago to attend the University of Chicago and graduated with a master of  business administration in 1968. He had an opportunity to study economics under Milton Friedman, the Nobel Laureate, but decided to graduate and start to earn a liv­ing. In the same year he graduated, he also got his private pilot’s license and added fly­ing to golf, tennis, jogging, bridge, grilling, camping and sailing as hobbies.

In 1971, Larry joined Henry Newgard & Company, first as an electrician and then as an engineer/estimator. In 1984, he started his own electrical contracting firm, Lar-Vi Electric Co., Inc. The firm was named after his mother and father and be­came a family business as Tiny, son Larry, and daughter Laura joined him at the firm. At its peak, Lar-Vi Electric had 500 employ­ees. Former colleagues described Larry as smart, tough minded, honest, straightfor­ward and a great guy.

Larry loved his family and lived for them. His family is a living testament to the person Larry was and the values he upheld.

Larry passed away on 7 Nov 2006, his 68th birthday, with Tiny and his children at his side.