If asked to describe the characteristics of an ideal Jewish man, Baltimore-based attorney and community leader Shale D. Stiller says, “I would say, ‘Just look at Larry Katz.’
“Larry was a scholar and a leader,” Stiller said. “His integrity was superb. His intellect and scholarship were superb. He was just a great, great man. There’s no one like him.”
Dr. Laurence M. “Larry” Katz, former dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law and a local Jewish communal lay leader for decades, passed away on Monday, July 21. He was 85.
A Florida native who attended Pikesville’s Ner Israel Rabbinical College, Katz was a protege of the late Rabbi Herman N. Neuberger, the yeshiva’s longtime president and executive vice president. He was also close with Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, Ner Israel’s founder and first rosh yeshiva (head of yeshiva), and Rabbi Yaakov S. Weinberg, who succeeded Ruderman.
After graduating from the University of Baltimore School of Law, Katz clerked under federal Judge Simon E. Sobeloff. “For Larry to be picked by Simon Sobeloff demonstrates what kind of scholar he had been, and what kind of mentsch he would become,” said Stiller in his eulogy for Katz.
A Northwest Baltimore resident, Katz served as dean of the law school from 1978 to 1993. Previously, he served as a professor there for many years, and an endowed faculty member chair at the law school is named in honor of Katz. Katz was a professor emeritus at the school.
“Larry revitalized the school and made it a prize institution,” said Stiller.
Said F. Michael Higginbotham, the University of Baltimore’s Laurence M. Katz Professor of Law: “No person is more responsible for the success of the University of Baltimore School of Law than Larry Katz. Truly a ‘man for all seasons’ through his unwavering commitment to excellence in teaching, his steadfast devotion to quality in scholarship, and his determined maintenance of respect, integrity, and morality in workforce administration, Katz’s decade and a half long leadership of the law school formed the foundation on which the institution sits today.
“As the Laurence M. Katz Professor of Law, I am proud, each and every day, to be connected to his name, and to carry the knowledge that his contribution was unmatched,” said Higginbotham.
After resigning from the deanship, Katz taught law at the school, focusing on courses in business organizations, commercial transactions, corporations and securities regulation.
He was also a past president of the Baltimore Jewish Council and a strong supporter of Ner Israel, Shemesh, Agudath Israel of Baltimore, Talmudical Academy of Baltimore and Torah Umesorah, a national organization dedicated to Jewish education.
“The Baltimore Jewish Council is saddened to inform you of the passing of Larry Katz, our former Board President,” wrote BJC Executive Director Howard Libit on social media. “In addition to his leadership and long involvement with the BJC board, Larry served on the Board of Directors of The Associated and was active on The Associated’s Community Planning and Allocation committees. … Our thoughts are with Larry’s family during this difficult time.”
In addition, Katz served as president of the Charles Crane Family Foundation, which supports Jewish education in the Baltimore metropolitan area and violence prevention programming. In a speech in 2015, he joked that he felt “lucky to have fallen into a role which is a dream — giving away other people’s money.”
“Larry was such a wonderful person,” Rabbi Moshe Heinemann of Agudath Israel of Baltimore said at Katz’s funeral. “When he could help, he helped. Anything that would help Yidden, he was there. … His main goal in life was to help people. That was him. This is a special loss for Baltimore and America, and maybe the whole world.”
Katz is survived by his wife of 65 years, Sandy Katz (nee Cohen); his children, Avie (Rivkie) Katz, Yehudis (Tony) Goldenberg, Ben Katz and Aron (Shaindy) Katz; his brother, Barry Katz; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
He was predeceased by his son, Danny Katz.
Services were on Tuesday afternoon, July 22, at Sol Levinson’s Chapel in Pikesville. Interment at Agudath Israel of Baltimore Cemetery, 6300 Hamilton Avenue in Rosedale.
Contributions in Larry Katz’s memory can be made to the Ahavas Yisrael Charity Fund, 115 E Sudbrook Lane, Suite E, Pikesville, Maryland 21208, or Ner Israel Rabbinical College. 400 Mount Wilson Lane, Baltimore, Maryland 21208.
The family will be in mourning at 3801 W. Strathmore Avenue in Baltimore.
“In the 30 years I worked in Baltimore, Larry was always the calm in the middle of a storm,” wrote Rabbi Mitchell S. Ackerson, former director of pastoral care at LifeBridge Health, on the website of Sol Levinson & Bros. “Available with helpful advice and with deep knowledge of the participants and needs of the community. His statesman-like presence will be missed.”
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