[cid:image001.jpg@01D45BC9.F7582490]
January 30, 2020

The Passing of Lawrence N. Field ('52)

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

[cid:image004.jpg@01D5D772.3D785EC0]I write to share the sad news that Lawrence N. Field, class of 1952, who was among Baruch College's most accomplished and generous alumni, passed away on Tuesday, January 28. He was 89. Larry was a visionary entrepreneur and business leader and a generous philanthropist who, for more than two decades, brought his many talents to bear on behalf of Baruch College and its students.

No doubt, his name is familiar to you all. Larry and his wife, Eris, provided the generous naming gift for Baruch's historic building at 17 Lexington Avenue, now known as the Lawrence and Eris Field Building. His devotion to Baruch students is also manifest in Clivner=Field Plaza, the outdoor urban space currently under construction on 25th Street, for which he provided leadership funding. An unrivaled and innovative entrepreneur himself, Larry invested deeply in Baruch's entrepreneurship programs through his endowment of the Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship and through his establishment of the Larry and Eris Field Family Chair in Entrepreneurship and Lawrence N. Field Professorship in Entrepreneurship.

Larry gave of his knowledge and wisdom as well, as a valued and trusted advisor to me and to my presidential predecessors. From 1999 until his passing, Larry served as a trustee of The Baruch College Fund. In recognition of his lifetime of achievements and leadership, Baruch College bestowed on him an honorary doctoral degree in 2004 and its Distinguished Alumni Award at the 2008 Bernard Baruch Dinner. In appreciation for his extraordinary generosity, he was awarded the prestigious Newman Medal for Philanthropy in 2013. As recently as this October, Baruch College honored Larry at the rededication of the renovated Field Center for Entrepreneurship, the ceremony attended by his daughters, Lisa and Robyn. The video of this exuberant event<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOkvvKAeynE> was shared with the delighted Larry.

After earning his bachelor's degree at Baruch (then "City College downtown"), Larry enlisted in the U.S. Army. Later he worked for Lever Brothers, helping them launch the Dove soap brand. Next he went into the real estate business and earned a law degree at night from New York Law School. A devoted family man-he and his wife were married for nearly half a century-Larry relocated to Los Angeles to be closer to her close-knit, extended family. In California his real estate activities flourished, and he eventually formed his own business, NSB Associates, naming it for his catchphrase when asked how things were going: "Not So Bad." NSB went on to become one of the region's most successful developers and managers of commercial and industrial real estate.

The boy from the Bronx, who made it big in California, never forgot his alma mater. Larry considered giving back to Baruch as "both a privilege and an obligation." His was the classic Baruch social mobility narrative. Larry's parents, Hungarian immigrants who owned a grocery store, hoped their only son might one day be a schoolteacher or a mail carrier. But Larry dreamed big. "Baruch showed me the wider world," he said in an interview in 2005. "The College gave me both the education and the self-confidence to create for myself and my family a future I could never have imagined."

He will be remembered and honored by future generations for his enduring support and his vision for what Baruch could become. His giving helped propel the College to new heights.

With sadness,

Mitchel B. Wallerstein, PhD
President



[cid:image002.jpg@01D45BC9.F7582490]




<>

If you wish to unsubscribe from the BARUCH-STUDENTS-ANNOUNCEMENTS List, please send an E-mail to:
"[log in to unmask]".  Within the body of the text, only write the following:
"SIGNOFF BARUCH-STUDENTS-ANNOUNCEMENTS".