Lawrence (Larry) Henry Gangaware

Lawrence (Larry) Henry Gangaware, age 90, found final peace September 15, 2016 at home surrounded by his loving wife, family, and caregivers. Born and raised on East 2nd Street in Brooklyn, NY, he was the youngest of three children to Henry Washington and Kathleen Cummins Gangaware. In 1943 at the age of seventeen he joined the US Navy and served in WWII in the Pacific. After the war, he graduated from New York University, Phi Beta Kappa, and Columbia University, NYC where he obtained his Masters of Clinical Social Work. His life changed forever at Columbia when he met his bride, the woman he adored and cherished for 63 years of marriage, “Mo”, Jean Moyer. Their life together led them from Seattle, WA to Asheville, N.C, Mo’s hometown, and eventually to Knoxville, TN where they planted roots for the ever expanding family tree and Larry’s career as a mental health professional. Initially he was with the Knoxville Mental Health Center. He then started a small private practice counseling children and adolescents. In 1965, he joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee, Graduate School of Social Work. While there he mentored many undergraduate and graduate students who would go on to become mental health professionals serving in the community and across the U.S. In 1995, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Knoxville Area Branch of the National Association of Social Workers. On many a Friday evening you would find Larry with some graduate students continuing the classroom debate at Brownie’s Diner on the strip or with some of his colleagues and their families having pizza at the Quarterback the night before the Vols played. The private practice grew to include family therapy, adult and marriage counseling before retiring in 1990. In retirement his passions and loves were many: anything sports, especially the New York Rangers, the Atlanta Braves (A substitute for his beloved Brooklyn Dodgers), Notre Dame football and Duke basketball, reading anything on American history, grilling on the back deck, and listening to classical music, jazz and everything Big Band. You would find him many a night sitting in his chair at home watching the warm glow of the fire and listening to Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller and always Billie Holiday. He loved his trips to the Atlantic Ocean, reading the Sunday edition of the New York Times and the many dogs he had over the years. Most of all Larry loved his family dearly and loved his wife, his friend, his soul mate, Mo, beyond measure. Preceded in death by parents Henry and Kathleen Gangaware; sister, Jimmie O’Connell and husband Vincent O’Connell, niece Susan Skelly and friends dear to the family Wayne Whigham and Eloise Rucker. Survived by sons Timothy (Melanie); Chris (Sarah); Sean; and Kevin (Marie), daughter Megan (Larry) Brown; grandchildren: Justin Gangaware (Katheryn), Lauren Gangaware (Larry Chainey), Rachel Whitherington (Rob), Erin Betler (Grant), Evan Gangaware (Hogan), Amelia Brown, Nicholas Brown, Ava Gangaware and Matthew Gangaware; great grandchildren Leah, Linley, and Landon. David O’Connell, nephew. The family offers a heart-filled THANK YOU to the caregivers at SCHAS, especially Tracey Harris and Tina Chalmers, and to the Amedysis Hospice team that cared for him over the past ten months. A Celebration of Life Service will be conducted Sunday, September 25, 2016 at Central United Methodist Church 201 3rd Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37917 at 2:00 pm followed with a reception to greet friends. In Lieu of flowers donations may be offered to The Wesley House Community Center, 1719 Reynolds St., Knoxville, TN 37921 or the Holston United Methodist Home for Children, www.Holstonhome.org. Online obituary may be viewed and condolence made at www.rosemortuary.com.

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Lawrence (Larry) Henry Gangaware

July 9, 1926 - September 15, 2016