Larry found his father’s high school chemistry textbook at the young age of 7 and read it cover to cover. He proceeded to experiment in the basement of the family home. By his high school years, he had advanced impressively in the field, enough to be given free reign in the laboratory such that his experiments moved from the family basement to the high school chemistry labs.
Larry graduated from Springfield (Vermont) High School in 1972 and left Vermont for MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in Cambridge, MA. He graduated impressively with a 3.7 grade point average in chemistry spending only three years as an undergrad at MIT.
He then completed his Ph.D. at MIT, making such a bang of an impression in earlier years that he was invited to join Sir Jack Baldwin’s group there. Jack, who was highly regarded among his peers worldwide, saw Larry’s potential and said, “I want that man in my research group,” and so it was. Following Sir Jack to England, Larry completed the final year of his Ph.D. research at St. John’s College, Oxford University, graduating in absentia from MIT with a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 1979.
Larry worked at Smith Kline and French Laboratories in Philadelphia, leaving there as an assistant director in 1986 for Smith Kline and Research, in Frythe, England, where he was director of the Medicinal Chemistry Department from 1987 to 1989.
He left England in 1989, returning to his Haddonfield, New Jersey, home. He went to work for Sterling Winthrop Pharmaceutical Research Division in Pennsylvania, becoming senior vice president of chemical research and development. He headed a research team, which worked on the development of enzyme inhibitors, drugs that interfere with the metabolism of bacteria.
After Sterling closed, Larry left the corporate world, but he continued working in the chemistry field as a consultant, working with many biotech, venture capital firms and pharmaceutical companies providing scientific, technical and business guidance. He also served on several corporate boards for companies such as Curis and Ceptyr. Larry’s work was at the leading edge of the development of new drugs for the treatment and cure of diseases.
Throughout life, he was always pushing boundaries, particularly in science and chemistry where he was highly regarded in the industry.
In his most recent years, he became an expert witness in lawsuits involving patent disputes and pharmaceutical companies. He continued to publish with a highly productive 44-year career in chemistry, giving over 51 invited lectures, 34 presentations, 63 publications and producing over 60 patents.
With a hankering to return to his boyhood Vermont, Larry started Northwood’s Joinery, with his high school friend, Pete (Holly) Kochalka, in 1995. This dynamic duo worked together, side-by-side, building post-and-beam houses all over the United States until 2015, when Larry became ill.
Larry had a love for the outdoors, and was often shredding the ski slopes of Smugglers Notch and diving in the ocean around St. John. He tackled the trees at Smuggs, retaining some battle scars. And the ocean contained a vast universe to him where he routinely wandered away while snorkeling.
Perhaps the highlight of Larry’s life was not his chemical career, but his love of young people. He had a huge heart. His enthusiasm for life knew no bounds, and he would light up the sky with it, sharing the wonders of the world with all around him.
People loved to gather with Larry; he had a kind way of listening and he remained humble despite all his achievements. His wry smile and witty responses were engaging and you knew you were going to have a good time when together with Larry.
He will be sorely missed and mourned by his partner, Sheila Patinkin (nee Crocker) and her family; his father, Elmer Kruse (Springfield); sister, Sherrie (Steve Fuchs) (Essex Junction); brother, Steven (Springfield); god daughter, Stephanie Fuchs; nieces Emily Fuchs, Emily Payne, Caroline Birckhead; close friends from HWS; and many, many friends and young people all over the world. He was predeceased by his mother, Lorraine (nee Strong) Kruse; and his former wife, Carolyn (nee Hoskins) Kruse.
Visiting hours will be held on Friday, July 8th, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Waterman Manor, Fifth Floor Waterman Building, 85 South Prospect St., University of Vermont Campus, in Burlington, Vermont.
In lieu of flowers, those wishing may make donations in Larry’s memory to the Brain Cancer Research Fund at Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Lebanon, NH, online to https://dhmcalumdev.hitchcock.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=1239 or payment to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and sent to D-H Office of Development, One Medical Center Drive, HB 7070, Lebanon, NH 03756-0001 or to a charity of your choice.
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