Browder, Lawrence

BROWDER, Lawrence Edward

Lawrence (Larry) Browder peacefully passed away in his sleep on May 31, 2022 following a courageous 2-year battle with ALS.

Born in Montgomery, Alabama on August 28, 1943, Larry was the eldest of Lawrence and Marie Browder's three children. Along with his sisters Lynn and Kitty, Larry enjoyed a happy family life and a good southern upbringing. He attended public schools through 12th grade and graduated from Robert E. Lee High School. Growing up in "lower Alabama" or "LA," as Larry called it, he knew he was headed to Auburn University at a very young age and enrolled in the Fall of 1961, which, unfortunately for Larry and the rest of the Auburn community, coincided with the start of Joe Namath's career playing for Bear Bryant at Alabama. Throughout Larry's time at Auburn, the school won only one football game against the Crimson Tide. Larry would often say, "Auburn fans didn't think Bear Bryant could actually walk on water–he just knew where the stumps were located."

Larry graduated from Auburn with a Bachelor's in Civil Engineering in March 1966, then immediately enrolled at Georgia Tech from which he received a Master's in Structural Engineering in April 1967. Later that month he entered active service in the United States Air Force as a 2nd Lieutenant and reported for duty at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico. While in the Air Force he focused on testing missile silos with simulated nuclear air pressure and ground shock loads and received his first credentials as a Professional Engineer (PE). During his free time, he enjoyed skiing and found his first true love – four-wall handball, which he played religiously into his late 60's.

At the end of his Air Force service commitment in 1971, Larry moved back to Atlanta and began his career as a structural engineer at Heery & Heery, where he met and worked with his future business partner and lifelong friend, Sergio LeGuizamon. When not in the office or on the handball courts he was an active member of the Atlanta Ski Club, and during the fall of 1974, while teaching skiing to new club members on a sawdust-covered hill off Northside Drive, he met the love of his life, "a curly-haired blondish" woman named Arline, whom he married in August 1975.

Early in 1978, after receiving an MBA from Georgia State University and at the nudging of Arline, Larry decided to take the "big plunge," as he called it, and went into business for himself, initially working out of the den of the family home in Doraville, Georgia. The business grew exponentially and after 2 years of Larry begging, Sergio joined him and together they proudly opened the doors of Browder + LeGuizamon and Associates, Inc. in March 1981. Since its founding, B+L has served as structural engineer on more than 10,000 different projects in 44 states and multiple foreign countries. Today, the skyline of the entire Atlanta metropolitan area is marked in every direction by the firm's work, and Larry's and Sergio's in particular.

Larry spared no expense when throwing one of the family's famous parties or arranging the family's annual vacations, which he loved so very much. He had a passion for the markets and throughout his life enjoyed much success in trading stocks --- as many as he possibly could at a single time, and often too many. A famous writer of poems for birthday roasts and a collector of bad jokes, he loved to make people laugh with a sense of wit that even he admitted was uniquely corny.

In addition to his love of work, handball, and riding his BMW motorcycle, he was dedicated to the success and happiness of his "most treasured possessions" – his adoring and ever-dedicated wife of nearly 47 years, Arline; his sons, Ian, Garrett, and Justin; daughters-in-law, Kathryn, Traci and Rachel; and his grandchildren Carson, Reese, Audrey, Grace, Sylvie, and Beau.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations in memory of Lawrence Browder be made to the Emory ALS Center, at https://med.emory.edu/departments/neurology/programs_centers/emory_als_center/, or by phone at 404-712-GIVE (4483)

A celebration of life ceremony will be held Thursday, June 16, 2:00 p.m. at Peachtree Hills Place, 229 Peachtree Hills Ave, Atlanta, GA 30305.