Lawrence J. Zuckerman

Lawrence J. Zuckerman, of Gray, passed away on February 25, following a recent
diagnosis of glioblastoma. He was 79.
Larry was born in Brooklyn on April 19, 1945 to the late Charlotte and George
Zuckerman, and grew up in Long Beach and Oceanside on Long Island. He was a
native New Yorker, but a Mainer at heart.
To the people who knew him, loved him, and were awed by him, Larry seemed
immortal. Many regarded him as “The Most Interesting Man in the World”; he was a
Renaissance man – an attorney for over 50 years, engineer, risk-taker, self-made
entrepreneur, builder, farmer, sheep herder, sailor, polo player, banjo player, painter,
skeptic, optimist, deep and principled thinker, forever student, wisecracker, and party
animal. He was extremely civically-minded, serving on many committees and boards.
He relished life, new experiences, old habits, and mischief.
He started working at age 14 and never stopped. He earned bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in mechanical engineering from Columbia University. As an undergraduate, he
spent hours at the MoMA and painted strikingly-good Picasso replicas. Larry briefly
taught high school science before earning his law degree from the University of Maine.
He lost his college roommate in the Vietnam War, an experience that marked him
deeply.
In the 1970s he bought and restored Bear Brook Farm in New Gloucester and also
purchased property on Little Sebago Lake in Gray. Thirty years later, he replaced the
rundown camp with a beautiful home he designed himself and moved in with his late
wife, Catherine. Designing houses using CAD programs was one more thing Larry
taught himself to do. There was always something new to learn.
Larry lived his life with curiosity, humor, and verve, embracing all that was fun, which
at various times took the form of a pinball machine, a waterbed, a sailboat, a banjo,
dogs, horses, the polo field, Tito’s vodka – often with ginger beer, and an endless
appetite for sweets (a Zuckerman family trait), especially ice cream and his beloved
wife Susan’s chocolate chip cookies.
He was in his seventies when he decided to become a sheep herder, and bought a
flock of sheep. He loved training his Border Collies and watching them work. A few
years ago, through his interest in breeding his dog Cora, he consulted a colleague of
25 years, who bred dogs. Larry and Susan found they were perfect for each other, fell
in love, and married in the summer of 2023.

Besides his loving wife Susan Turner Zuckerman, Larry is survived by his stepchildren
Leah Beran and Tyler Beran, Tyler’s wife Carrie and son Charlie, Susan’s children
Jesse, Nicole, Zach, and Ian and their families, his mother-in-law Lois Turner, his twin
sister Linda Sloves and brother-in-law Eli Sloves, nieces and nephews Michael Sloves,
Alicia Zuckerman, Jeremy Zuckerman, Cady Zuckerman and their families, longtime
friend and colleague Julie Mason, and many cousins, friends, and other family. He was
predeceased by his cherished wife Catherine Zuckerman, his brother, David
Zuckerman, and sister-in-law, Rita Zuckerman.
Visiting hours will be held on Saturday, March 22, 2025 from 2-4 PM at Wilson
Funeral Home, 24 Shaker Road, Gray. A celebration of life will be held on Sunday,
March 23, 2025 from 1-4 PM at Spring Meadows Golf Club, 59 Lewiston Road, Gray.

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