Laurence “Larry” Bauer died Tuesday, April 6, at Swedish Hospital in Seattle from complications related to a severe stroke. His children, Sara and Laura, and their mother, Ingrid, were with him when he died. His death was peaceful.

He was 69.

Larry was the second son of Harriet Woodward Bauer and Wolf G. Bauer of Seattle. He was born May 9, 1940, in Spokane. His Bavarian father, a ceramic engineer, had been the chief engineer at Roche Harbor Lime & Cement Co. in the 1930s. At that time, the family purchased property on Mosquito Pass where Larry spent much of his boyhood. The Bauers were an active outdoors family of skiers, kayakers, hikers, mountaineers and campers.

Larry graduated from Ballard High in Seattle and became a seaman after high school. He worked for various universities and environmental companies running research boats. He was also the captain of a sports fishing boat out of Sausalito, Calif., in the 1970s.

Once, when he was heading for the fishing grounds, a suicidal man jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge. Larry immediately tried to rescue him, jumping into the cold water and pulling the man to the side of the boat. He was beyond saving but Larry quickly notified the authorities and kept the person safe from the tides until they came. He was gifted in his response to emergencies.

He met and married Ingrid Fabbe Flynn in Stinson Beach Calif., in 1970. She had two children from a previous marriage to George Flynn, M.D. Larry was a fun and kind stepfather to Erin and George Flynn, who he loved and parented as his own for the short time he was with them. Larry and Ingrid had two children of their own, twins Sara and Laura. When the twins were six months old, the family moved to San Juan Island, returning to their beloved Northwest and living closer to their Seattle families.

Larry and Ingrid divorced in 1974 and Larry moved to La Conner where he lived aboard and cared for the historic tender, the Nereid. The family stayed in Friday Harbor. Erin and George returned to live with their father in Stinson Beach, Calif.

For the last 15 years of his life, he cared for his disabled mother, Harriet Bauer, in the family home in Ballard. She died Feb. 5, 2010. Larry overcame many struggles to become this loving and tender son and father. He died too soon.

Larry is survived by his twin children, Sara and Laura Bauer (Friday Harbor); his brother, Rolf “Rocky/Raki” Bauer; his 98-year-old father, Wolf Bauer (Anacortes); his ex-wife, Ingrid Fabianson (Friday Harbor); and his stepchildren, Erin Flynn (Burbank, Calif.) her daughter, Marin Sklan, and George Flynn IV (Bolinas, Calif.).

Rest in peace, Larry.

— Family of Laurence “Larry” Bauer