In Remembrance: Lawrence Pidgeon ’85, ’86MA Died on November 13 2012

"I have some sad news to report this month.  Larry 'Pidge' Pidgeon (Stiles ’85/’86) died this past November 13 at his Manhattan apartment from complications of lung cancer.  Larry started Yale in 1981 but was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease after his freshman year.  He spent the following year fighting the disease,  which went into remission. He returned to Yale in 1983 and graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, earning both his BA and a masters in economics in 1986.  During his junior year Larry and one of his roommates, Gib Carey ’85, started the now-defunct Yale Parents’ Newsletter.  Larry was also a dedicated and valued member of the golf team while at Yale.   

After graduation, Larry worked for New York–based Goldman Sachs.  He next moved to Los Angeles to work in the money management division of Geico Corporation.  In 1995, Larry started his NYC-based private hedge fund, CBM Capital.   In 2005 Larry was described as one of nine “hard-to-access investment wizards” by Forbes magazine.

Larry was an exceptionally loyal, generous, and thoughtful friend.  Perhaps due to his early experience with mortality, Larry devoted his time and efforts to pursuing ideals, activities, and relationships that he most valued.   He was diligent about healthy eating, yoga, and exercise.  He deeply enjoyed his work and dedicated himself to excellence in all his endeavors.   Larry regularly expressed appreciation to those around him and gratitude for the life he built.  Shortly prior to his death, he told both his brother Brian ’83 and his wife Sue that he had no regrets about how he lived his life. 

Gib Carey wrote that  Larry “cared deeply about family—his family and the families of those he touched.  He always had time for close friends when they reached out to him and he had a wonderful sense of humor."                

Paul Farrell ’85, another roommate both during college and in New York, noted, “Pidge was the sort of friend who sent e-mails and called if you were sick or going through a rough stretch.  He never expected anything in return.”   He “loved to
celebrate life’s events with friends and family, often even including family of friends. . . . I count myself extremely lucky to have had Pidge as my friend for the last 30 years.”  Those of us who knew him well couldn’t agree more.    

Larry is survived by his wife Sue and their eleven-month-old twins,  Alexandra and Jack, his ten-year-old stepson Daniel, his parents Shirley and Harold, and two brothers, Brian and Mark.     

Donations in memory of Larry can be made to Yale Golf at the Larry Pidgeon ’85 Fund designation #31122, mark.lufkin@yale.edu, or the  American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org.

Submitted by Sue Schimmel Cooper ’86.

An obituary was published in the San Diego Union-Tribune on November 15, 2012.