"I have hopes of specializing in city planning. If the future world is founded upon the proper peace, there will be a great need for experts with a true desire to improve life for their fellow men through city improvement. In this leadership class I expect and hope to gain just what the name says, the development of my abilities toward leadership".

Laurence Wilson, Manual Arts High School, February 1943

Albert Laurence Wilson always went by the name Laurence Wilson to distinguish him from his Father Albert Edgar Wilson. To his family and friends he was always known as "Larry". He was a 46 year resident of Three Arch Bay in Laguna Beach California where he resided until his death on Tuesday, May 19th 2015 at the age of 88. He passed away in the pre-dawn hours from respiratory failure at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo.

He began his life October 8th 1926 in Los Angeles, California, the beloved only child of Albert and his wife the former Lillian Backstrand. His father was a Doctor of Philosophy who became a teacher of foreign languages and later a high school principal. Dr. Wilson became the first principal of the 3rd high school in Los Angeles, Manual Arts High School, where he was principal until his retirement in 1938. His Mother, an opera singer, attended the University of Southern California where upon graduation she became a professor of voice at the institution.

Larry grew up on Crenshaw Blvd in Los Angeles, attended elementary school at Alta Loma Elementary, then, Mount Vernon Junior High School and, instead of the local school district Los Angeles High School, he attended Manual Arts High School where his father had been principal for many years. His interests included planes, trains, and automobiles. By then he had decided upon a career in city planning and traffic engineering but first he had the commitment to national service. He served in the Army after high school, spending most of his time attending college as the government realized the need for city planners in the post war United States. He attended Virginia Tech and Oregon State while in the Army and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Southern California. He became a lifelong member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and later received his Masters Degree from USC.

After graduation, USC 1950, he married UCLA Theatre Art major graduate Ardys Scanlon of Los Angeles and moved to San Diego to begin his career in City Planning and Traffic Engineering. In San Diego he and Ardys began to raise their children, first David in 1952 and later Glenn in 1957, eventually purchasing a home in Claremont overlooking Mission Bay. Larry worked for both the City of San Diego and the County of San Diego before leaving in the early 1960's to become the Planning Director of El Cajon. It was during this period that Larry held regional and statewide office in the fields of City Planning and Traffic Engineering.

In 1969 he left El Cajon to accept the job of Planning Director of Newport Beach moving to Laguna Beach where he lived for the rest of his life. In 1972 he left Newport to pursue a position with the nationally respected Orange County engineering firm Raub Bien Frost and Associates where he became one of the Vice Presidents in the company and continued a distinguished career in City Planning and Traffic Engineering as a principle designer of the young cities of Irvine and Mission Viejo. With RBF he was able to work on a myriad of projects in Southern California and beyond. His colleagues said he was the only one who has ever brought a drawing on a napkin into a Caltrans meeting for a freeway interchange and used it to get an approval. He contributed to numerous projects including as chief designer of the reconfiguration of the EL Toro Y (Interstate 5 and 405 interchange) and the redo of State Route 133 (Laguna Canyon Rd). Many associates have lauded him for his compassion to the flora, fauna and geography of the Southern California Landscape and for coming up with meaningful solutions to the sensitive needs of the southland community. He was a true environmentalist and the bridge between differing opinions. He was a voice that brought people together during the changing period, between the old days of the Southern California Region and the modern times.

Larry will always be remembered for his compassion, by all who met him for his beautiful soul, his gentle smile and his contagious love of life and family.

Larry Wilson is survived by his wife Ardys and their 2 boys, David of Downieville CA (spouse Debra and children Niven and Wyatt} and Glenn of Laguna Beach CA {spouse Hae and child Nils} and a network of friends and associates that extend worldwide.