NEUSTADT, Laurance T. "Larry"

Laurance "Larry" T. Neustadt, 80, died peacefully in his sleep at home on December 21, 2022. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 30, 1942, to Laurence Neustadt and Marion McGlynn Neustadt, Larry attended Syosset High School on Long Island. At the age of 12, he began working on an estate as a gardener on weekends and carried what he learned throughout his life. He attended college on Long Island before moving to Atlanta in 1962. Larry used his savings from gardening to start Sweetbriar, a thriving residential and light commercial construction company, with his brother, Don. During the Vietnam War, Larry served in the U.S. Navy, flying in submarine hunter aircraft. Later, he briefly played ice hockey, earning the nickname, Rocket. In the early 1970s, Larry started competitive sailboat racing with friends at the Lake Lanier Sailing Club. Over the next 30 years, he raced and won all over the country and co-owned several sailboats, including “Miss American Pie,” “Bill the Cat,” “Love Stinks,” “Bad Clams,” and “Free James Brown.” Larry’s fun-loving character earned him various nicknames from friends: Gramps, Old Dude, Silver Fox, BagWan, and Sir Laurance are just a few. In 1982, Larry started Neustadt Bros., Inc., focusing on “infill” properties in the City of Atlanta. Upon retirement in the late ’90s, he traveled extensively with his wife, Barbara, and friends, enjoying fly fishing, bird hunting trips from Canada to South America, bone fishing in the Bahamas, and saltwater fishing in the Florida Keys on his boat, “Bob.” Larry also enjoyed sporting clays as a member of the Five Old Guys Shooting team (FOGS). He was known for his humor and his love for and loyalty to his friends, and he never hesitated to tell them he loved them. He looked to God in his work and everyday life and was a member of a weekly Bible Study class. He would always come home at the end of every day and say to Barbara, “I am a happy man” or “I am a lucky man!” Larry is survived by his wife of 28 years, Barbara Rice Neustadt; his rescue dog, Tazi (the Tazmanian Devil); his nephew, Donald Lyn Neustadt Jr., his wife, Carol, and their two children, Hunter and Nicole; and his niece, Kelly Neustadt Wheeler. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Larry’s honor to K9s for Warriors: http://support.k9sforwarriors.org/goto/InMemoryofLarryNeustadt