Dean Always Put Students First Associates Lavish Praise On Scc Educator Who Died Of Massive Heart Attack At Age 50
Larry Tarrer died wired to the world around him, the way he wanted to go.
His ever-present earphones looped over his head, the enthusiastic college dean slumped in a chair Monday at his Spokane home.
As a talk radio host ranted on, Tarrer fell silent from a massive heart attack. The dean of professional and technical programs at Spokane Community College was dead at age 50.
Tarrer left behind seven children, four grandchildren and Mary Tarrer, his wife and the woman who first hired him at a community college in Tacoma.
He also left behind untold numbers of students who graduated from college because Tarrer had found tuition money in a scholarship fund or had reached into his own pocket for bus fare or carpenter tools to keep a young student from slipping back into a cycle of poverty or jail.
“Students have always been Larry’s priority,” said Regina Lawrence, an SCC associate dean who had known Tarrer since 1985. “He was devoted to students and making sure they got what they needed.”
Tarrer nearly died in 1990 from an illness. Since that time, his wife said, he had lived for the moment, even sleeping with his earphones tuned to talk radio.
Joining SCC in 1993, the former U.S. Air Force master sergeant blitzed Spokane with a verve for education, gaining statewide acclaim in vocational programs. At the time of his death, he was chairman-elect of the Washington State Vocational-Technical Council.
Tarrer had the energy to read four different novels at one time, exercise daily at Central Park Racquet & Athletic Club and spend hours surfing through television, talk radio and the Internet. He amassed trivia about old movies and wrote a regular column for the Spokane African-American Voice. He gardened.
“My man was wired,” Mary Tarrer said Wednesday. “This was an out-of-the-box guy. He could always come up with another creative way to get things done. I never knew what it would be next.”
While Tarrer typed on his computer, co-workers said, he would break into song. He made up the lyrics and tune as he went along.
Tarrer hung a rubber chicken over his desk and a plaque over his writing board: “Thou Shalt Not Whine.”
Students trailed through his office like ducklings learning to walk. They were white and African American and Asian. They were poor or troubled but knew Tarrer would find a way to help them graduate.
“He easily could have gone on to be an instructional vice president or president of a community college,” said SCC President Jim Williams.
Tarrer earned his college degrees while serving in the military and raising his children. He worked for Bates Technical College and Clover Park Vocational Technical Institute in Tacoma before coming to Spokane.
Mel Carter, a businessman and close friend, helped Tarrer reach out to disadvantaged youths to encourage them to go to college.
“He was the total package,” Carter said. “He’s going to be hard to replace.”
A memorial service for Tarrer will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Ball & Dodd South Funeral Home, 421 S. Division.
The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to the Larry Tarrer Scholarship Fund at the President’s Office, Mail Stop 2150, Spokane Community College, 1819 N. Greene, Spokane 99217.
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