Los Ranchos mourns loss of Mayor Larry Abraham, 64
Lifelong resident of NM praised for contributions to village
Family of longtime Los Ranchos de Albuquerque Mayor Larry Abraham spent Sunday trying to come to terms with the unexpected death of a charismatic and energetic entrepreneur and visionary, they said.
Abraham, 64, died Saturday during a trip with his wife to their second home in St. George, Utah. Abraham leaves behind his wife, Beverly, son, Geoffrey, and sisters Karen Abraham and Sandra Dhieux.
Karen Abraham said she believes he died of a massive heart attack.
Abraham, a lifelong resident of New Mexico, was born in Santa Fe and attended the University of New Mexico. He was midway through his
fourth term as village mayor.
Karen Abraham said her brother was, above all, a father and a husband, but he was also a gifted and optimistic entrepreneur who launched his first business before graduating college.
In an interview with the Journal ahead of the 2016 election, Larry Abraham said over the course of his career he built homes and commercial buildings, ran furniture stores, phone stores, knife stores.
“Some of almost everything,” he told the Journal.
He was a Renaissance man with a can-do attitude who was willing to take on a challenge, his sister said. He launched more than a dozen start-up companies over his nearly 40-year career.
Larry Abraham was a past president of the Lobo Club. He served on several boards with the Mid-Region Council of Governments, including the Metropolitan Transportation Board. He was a past member of the UNM Foundation Board and a chartered member of the Tom L. Popejoy Society. He was inducted into the Anderson Hall of Fame in 2012 and received a UNM Alumni Association Zia Award in 2011.
“He didn’t let any grass grow under his feet,” Karen Abraham said Sunday. “He was always looking for opportunities and when he really failed in things, he saw it as an opportunity to go on.”
And he brought that energy to the Mayor’s Office.
“The village was extremely lucky to have my brother because he just, I think he branded it, he branded it into a village and into a community that had a great deal of pride and recognition,” Karen Abraham said.
According to a village of Los Ranchos news release announcing his death, Larry Abraham spearheaded the ongoing Fourth Street Revitalization Project, “enhanced the Village sense of identity and independence, established fiscal responsibility and accountability” and created and contributed to Village Vision, a community magazine.
Los Ranchos Mayor Pro Tem Donald Lopez will assume the mayor’s responsibilities until the vacancy is filled by the Village Board of Trustees, according to the news release.
“Mayor Abraham loved the Village and provided terrific leadership for us over the last fourteen years,” Lopez said in the news release. “His presence will be greatly missed.”
Karen Abraham said Sunday a memorial service had yet not been scheduled.
THE VILLAGE WAS EXTREMELY LUCKY TO HAVE MY BROTHER ... HE BRANDED IT INTO A VILLAGE AND INTO A COMMUNITY THAT HAD A GREAT DEAL OF PRIDE AND RECOGNITION. KAREN ABRAHAM LARRY ABRAHAM’S SISTER