Dr. Lawrence P. Huggins Ph.D.

Dr. Lawrence P. Huggins, PhD.

AGE: 85 • Neptune

Dr. Lawrence P. Huggins, PhD., 85, of Neptune, New Jersey died Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012 at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. The son of Eileen Byrne and Arthur J. Huggins, he was named after his great-grandfather Lawrence Dawson and grandfather Patrick Byrne, both of Co. Wicklow, Ireland. Larry, as he was called, was born in the Bronx, NYC and raised in Manhattan. He earned a BA degree from Columbia University in New York City. While working for General Electric Co. he obtained his Master and Doctoral degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. However, he maintained that he was really educated by Christian Brothers in Holy Name grammar school, St. Joseph's Normal Institute, Barrytown, New York, and De La Salle High School in Manhattan. He had a long and abiding love and admiration for the De La Salle Brothers and always maintained that his education by them and the GI Bill of Rights following WWII combined to change an otherwise probable negative direction of his life. Married to Mary Flynn in 1951, he was the loving and proud father of Robert Brian, Lawrence Patrick, Michael Dennis, Brendan Eugene, and daughter, Mary Kathleen Huggins Wright; and grandfather of Suzann Gallagher, Dennis, Timothy, Brendan, Daniel, Erin, Amanda, Maria, Madeline, and Alanna Huggins, and Brian and John Wright, and great grandsons, Mattheus and Erich Jaekel. He also had a special place in his heart for his in-law children, Sharon Corr, Lisa Sundin, Mary Gallagher, and Andrew Wright.

Spending three years each on GE's Financial Management Program and its three year Manufacturing Training Program for industrial engineering he worked in various businesses in Schenectady NY, Erie PA, Pittsfield Mass., Philadelphia and Valley Forge PA, then on the GE corporate executive staff in NYC and Fairfield Connecticut with assignments all over the United States. After nearly 25 years with GE, he took a position with US Industries as President of Health Industries and then President of the Agri-Business International Group of 6 international companies. Following this, he joined the faculty of Manhattan College as Chairman of the Business Management Department and enjoyed serving as a professor of management for some 25 years before retiring. This move, he felt, finally gave him an opportunity to live what he thought became a more normal and traditional life and, after retirement, he continued to teach as an adjunct professor of business at Georgian Court University.

He was predeceased in June by his wife of 61 years, Mary Flynn Huggins; his oldest son, Robert Brian; parents, Arthur James Huggins of North Carolina and Eileen Jane Byrne of Ireland and New York City; his younger brothers, Arthur James Jr who died in Monticello, New York, and Robert Vernon Huggins who died in Lochsheldrake, New York. He is survived by four of his children, Lawrence, Michael, Brendan, and Mary; 12 grandchildren, 2 great grandchildren; his sister, Dorothy Davis of Virginia, and many nephews and nieces.

Visiting hours will be on Wednesday, November 14 from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at Ely Funeral Home, 3316 Route 33 in Neptune. A funeral Mass and Liturgy will be celebrated at 12 p.m. on Thursday, November 15 at Holy Innocents Church, 3455 West Bangs Ave., Neptune. Internment will be at St. Gabriel's Church Mausoleum in Marlboro, NJ. In lieu of flowers, he would have preferred and thanked you for memorial donations to aid elderly and infirm patients at the De La Salle Brothers Provincialate facility in Lincroft, NJ. Checks should be made to the Christian Brothers Retirement and Continuing Care Trust, PO Box 238, Lincroft, NJ 07738. Condolences may also be made online at www.elyfuneralhome.com.