Lawrence Hugh Boyd Jr.

Boyd, Lawrence Hugh Jr.
Lawrence Hugh Boyd Jr. (Larry), 81, passed away peacefully at his Tempe home with his family at his side on March 7, 2017. He was born in Dearborn, Michigan to Lawrence and Bessie Boyd, a second child of four children. He is survived by his cherished older sister, Gloria (Dalder), and younger brothers, William and Jack. Larry is also survived by his loving wife of sixty years, Gail, and their children, Wesley Lawrence Boyd and Kate Boyd Munn. He was a proud father and father-in-law and dearly loved his grandchildren, Alec, Robin and Meredith. Larry thrived on a good game of tennis with friends and family. Studying and playing the piano provided great pleasure for him and others since he was a young boy. On the occasion of his 70th birthday, he gave a piano concert. Larry grew up in Detroit, Michigan and joined the Air Force after high school. Trained to fly as an Air Force Cadet, he flew a jet fighter in the Air Defense Command. He also served in the Air Force Reserve as a C119 pilot and was reactivated in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Larry had a passion for flying and felt that it was a privilege to have experienced flight. He was a well-regarded teacher and lived a life of the mind as a researcher, software designer and writer. After receiving a doctorate from the University of Michigan, Larry taught quantitative methods in social welfare research at the University of California at Berkeley. He co-authored Contextual Analysis: Concepts and Statistical Techniques (1979), a pioneering work in multiple level statistical analysis. Larry also cofounded Berkeley Systems, a successful consumer software company, developed software for the visually impaired, and authored ProtoGenie, a comprehensive software toolkit for online experimental research. A lifelong love of ideas and science continued until shortly before his death as he completed his book entitled Rancorous Political Partisanship — Rooted in the Physical Laws of the Universe. Larry reflects in the final pages that "there would be no world and no 'us' without the existence of both forces (liberal and conservative) and without a balance between them." Larry will be deeply missed and long remembered for his wise, kind and generous spirit and his belief in us all. A committal service was held for Captain Lawrence H. Boyd at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona on March 28, 2017.