Dr. Larry Lee Blackman Ph.D.

1941 - 2018

Dr. Larry Lee Blackman, PhD

Pittsford - Died on January 13, 2018, at the age of 76. He was born January 30, 1941, in Kansas City, Missouri. From birth until 1963, Leavenworth, Kansas, was his home. From 1959 until 1963 Larry attended the University of Kansas, majoring in philosophy and minoring in German. At KU he was a member of United Presbyterian Men and Alpha Kappa Lambda. He was President of Celtic Cross and Moderator of the Westminster Center. He played intramural basketball and golf. In his sophomore year he won the Sterling-Walker Greek Prize. In his senior year, he was elected to Sachem (senior men's honor society) and Phi Beta Kappa. He was one of five students from KU to be nominated for a Danforth Fellowship. He graduated "with distinction" in 1963, having won a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst Award for a year of study in the Republic of Germany. In 1963-64 Larry studied theology at the University of Marburg, West Germany.

In September, 1964, Larry began study at Union Theological Seminary, in New York City. During the summer of 1965, he served in the Christian Ministry in the National Parks at Grand Lake, Colorado. In summer, 1966, he served as a civil rights worker in southwest Georgia. During the 1966-67 academic year he was an instructor in German and philosophy at Spelman College, in Atlanta. He received his Master of Divinity from Union in May, 1968, having majored in philosophy of religion.

In 1969 Larry received a National Defense Education Act Fellowship to study at the University of Minnesota. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Minnesota in 1976. In 1973 he took a position on the faculty of the Philosophy Department at the State University of New York, College at Geneseo. He retired from Geneseo, as full Professor, in 2011. While at Geneseo, Larry held innumerable service positions at the College, including Chair of the Faculty and Chair of the Undergraduate Academic Affairs Committee. Specializing in metaphysics and the philosophy of language, he read invited papers at Cornell University, Syracuse, and the American Philosophical Association. He gave talks at Cambridge University, for the Oxford Round Table, and at an International Kant Congress, in Pisa, Italy. He is the editor of an anthology and the author of several articles and reviews. In 1978 he received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a summer of study at Cornell University.

Larry also gave numerous talks and invited papers in the fields of genealogy and family history. He had leadership roles for the Rochester Genealogical Society from 1996 to 2003, including serving as President from 1999-2001. In 2001 he had published a book on his maternal line, entitled Willcott, Kay, Timberlake, and Allied Families.

Larry was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and held service positions from 1995 to 2007, including President of the Rochester Chapter, 2006-07. He was a member of Mayflower Descendants in the State of New York, serving as Lieutenant Governor to the Buffalo Colony, 2002-05, and Secretary, 2008-10.

Another of Larry's hobbies, since his youth, was golf. He was a member of the Livingston Country Club in Geneseo for many years, won the Club Championship (1979), was Runner-up (1984, 1981), and was Livingston County Champion (1988).

Larry is survived by his loving wife, Fran, son Jonathan (PharmD), daughter Meredith, and stepson Matthew Michel. He is also survived by a sister and brother-in-law, Marilyn and James Pearl, two nieces, Becky Ford and Christie Nesbitt, their spouses and children, and many beloved friends. Larry will be greatly missed and warmly remembered by all who knew him.