Obituary for Larry Wilner
Lawrence (Larry) John Wilner died Friday morning, October 28, 2022, at his home in Crownsville, Maryland. Born in 1947, he was as unconventional in his later life as his early life was traditional. He grew up in a prominent Washington, DC Jewish family, raised by a WWII veteran (Morton H.) and elegant Canadian mother (Zelda “Pete”). He graduated from St. Albans in 1964, and from George Washington University in 1969, with a degree in Anthropology.
He traveled the American West extensively and opened The Last Fair Deal Trading Post in Ouray, Colorado. Larry returned to Washington where he established a successful wholesale Native American jewelry business. At just 40 years of age, he sold the business to untether himself from work and pursue his broader interests including, philanthropy, canoeing, fishing, Arctic exploration, wooden boats, Cadillacs, western movies, eBay, shoes, and curious items of all sorts.
Larry married Ann M. Harrison and had a son, Joseph Aaron. He was devoted to Joseph, to whom he imparted his unique outlook on life and all its mysteries. Larry and his son shared countless adventures, including portaging from lake to lake in Canada, driving the backroads of Mexico, beholding the vistas of the West, kayaking with orcas in the wild, visiting alligator farms, and walking the arctic tundra under 20-hour suns.
Larry also devoted tremendous time and energy to Aleph Bet Jewish Day School in Annapolis where he was a longtime board member and fundraised for a large expansion.
Larry encouraged people to not just look through a conventional lens, but to question the questions, the motives, the context, and the basis of the understanding. He was loved by his many friends.
Larry spent his last years with Sandra Harris, his girlfriend of over a decade. They laughed every day in their menagerie, with two Boykin spaniels, a cat, two parrots, six chickens, and whatever else needed a home.
He is lovingly survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Joseph and Allyson Wilner, girlfriend Sandra Harris and siblings Thomas (Jane), James (Ellen), and Theodora (Bruce Heard) Wilner.
Services at Adas Israel Congregation, 2850 Quebec St NW, Washington, DC 20008, on Monday, October 31st, 2022 at 12:00 pm. Interment Adas Israel Cemetery of Washington, DC. Please omit flowers. Contributions in his memory may be sent to Bar C Ranch, www.barcranch.org; Little Longears Miniature Donkey Rescue, www.littlelongears.org; Chabad of Anne Arundel County, https://www.chabadaac.com; or Friends of the Jewish Chapel, https://fojcusna.org
Reception following funeral services, at one of Larry's favorite's, Maggiano's at 3:00pm, 5333 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC 20015.
The family will be in mourning at 3707 Beech Ave, Baltimore, Maryland 21211, Receiving 6-7pm Tuesday, 11/1 through Saturday, 11/6 with Shiva services held immediately following at 3707 Beech Ave, Baltimore, MD 21211.
He traveled the American West extensively and opened The Last Fair Deal Trading Post in Ouray, Colorado. Larry returned to Washington where he established a successful wholesale Native American jewelry business. At just 40 years of age, he sold the business to untether himself from work and pursue his broader interests including, philanthropy, canoeing, fishing, Arctic exploration, wooden boats, Cadillacs, western movies, eBay, shoes, and curious items of all sorts.
Larry married Ann M. Harrison and had a son, Joseph Aaron. He was devoted to Joseph, to whom he imparted his unique outlook on life and all its mysteries. Larry and his son shared countless adventures, including portaging from lake to lake in Canada, driving the backroads of Mexico, beholding the vistas of the West, kayaking with orcas in the wild, visiting alligator farms, and walking the arctic tundra under 20-hour suns.
Larry also devoted tremendous time and energy to Aleph Bet Jewish Day School in Annapolis where he was a longtime board member and fundraised for a large expansion.
Larry encouraged people to not just look through a conventional lens, but to question the questions, the motives, the context, and the basis of the understanding. He was loved by his many friends.
Larry spent his last years with Sandra Harris, his girlfriend of over a decade. They laughed every day in their menagerie, with two Boykin spaniels, a cat, two parrots, six chickens, and whatever else needed a home.
He is lovingly survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Joseph and Allyson Wilner, girlfriend Sandra Harris and siblings Thomas (Jane), James (Ellen), and Theodora (Bruce Heard) Wilner.
Services at Adas Israel Congregation, 2850 Quebec St NW, Washington, DC 20008, on Monday, October 31st, 2022 at 12:00 pm. Interment Adas Israel Cemetery of Washington, DC. Please omit flowers. Contributions in his memory may be sent to Bar C Ranch, www.barcranch.org; Little Longears Miniature Donkey Rescue, www.littlelongears.org; Chabad of Anne Arundel County, https://www.chabadaac.com; or Friends of the Jewish Chapel, https://fojcusna.org
Reception following funeral services, at one of Larry's favorite's, Maggiano's at 3:00pm, 5333 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC 20015.
The family will be in mourning at 3707 Beech Ave, Baltimore, Maryland 21211, Receiving 6-7pm Tuesday, 11/1 through Saturday, 11/6 with Shiva services held immediately following at 3707 Beech Ave, Baltimore, MD 21211.