RIP: Larry Sechrest (1946 - 2008)

Via the Mises blog comes the news of the death of Larry Sechrest at age 62 of heart failure.  Larry was a friend and colleague to many of us.  Larry taught at Sul Ross State in Texas.  He was a long-time member of the SDAE and frequently wrote for various Austrian and libertarian outlets.  His book on free banking remains a terrific contribution to that literature.  Although I did not know Larry well, my interactions with him were always enjoyable and he was one of those people who always had a smile on his face.  Jeff Tucker's blog post linked above has many more details on Larry's life.  Our condolences to his family and friends.

Comments

[Dave Prychitko]

No. I was only acquainted with Larry, but I could easily see that he was a gentleman.

[Dave Prychitko]

(Different topic: did you guys accidently delete a couple recent posts?)

[Steve Horwitz]

Not that I'm aware of Dave. And nothing of yours is in the spam folder. Every once in awhile Typepad delays some comments, could be that.

[matthew mueller]

Yea, I was shocked to read this at the Mises blog. I just saw him at the Mises Scholars Conference last March! He looked great. He was one of the sharpest intellects there. In fact, he destroyed my presentation of Lachmann. But he WAS a gentleman. I actually enjoyed being criticized by him because he conducted himself in a very polite and professional manner. Although he was against the "kaleidic society," I will always have tremendous respect for Larry Sechrest. My best wishes to his family and friends.

[Jeffrey Tucker]

He was indeed an unusual combination of traits: good cheer, moral courage, and scholarship. Over the last several weeks, he had been sending in published articles in PDF for web archiving, and of course I was glad to have them. Then last week I wrote to ask if I could interview him, and he pointed out that he was having health troubles and it wasn't a good time for him. Of course we always assume that people will get better and all will be well. But this morning the phone. The voice said "This is Molly Sechrest...." and I instantly knew. It makes me very sad.

I'm so grateful for his friendship over the years, and the fantastic model of a person and teacher he provided to everyone who knew him. Every time he got off the bus as he arrived at the ASC, he would give me a gigantic bear hug. I miss him dearly.

[Ludwig van den Hauwe]

I was shocked too. I knew Larry only through occasional e-mail correspondence. He indeed was a real gentleman, even if I am sorry to say that his book is very flawed.

[Ludwig van den Hauwe]

And the last phrase he wrote to me only some days before his passing away was: "I do not want to be redundant." I have to admit that with hindsight this phrase takes on a bizarre connotation. I think we should celebrate his work. He also wrote some great articles.

[Ludwig van den Hauwe]

The last phrase he wrote to me, only a few days before his passing away, was: "I do not want to be redundant." I have to admit that with hindsight this phrase takes on a bizarre connotation. We should celebrate his work. He also wrote a number of great articles.

[Ludwig van den Hauwe]

I am sorry the previous message was repeated; at first it seemed it hadn´t come through, don´t know why; I must have missed something...

Ludwig van den Hauwe, PhD