LArry PArr, 1946-2011 By Al Lawrence
“I must teLL you, AL, the CrItICIsm A Chess edItor receives makes a lip-burning satay seem like a bland affair.” Any friend of Larry Parr recognizes the first five words (name adapted to match the listener) as the start of a labyrinthine adventure- parable that eventually led to a treasure close to Larry’s heart. Looking back on that after-hours conversation opener (and lots of others) from then-new Chess Life editor Parr, it’s clear now that there was more meaning in the ritualistic preamble than I had ever realized. For Parr’s life of words and ideas now does seem to amount to a compulsion to tell us important things, things we didn’t expect to hear.
Lawrence Arthur Collard Parr, editor of Chess Life from January 1985 to march 1988, died in the early morning hours of April 2 at the university hospital in Petaling Jaya in Kuala Lumpur (KL). Parr left
us only weeks after his Chess Life cover story marked the passing of his friend and collaborator Gm Larry evans—and just a few months after publication of Parr’s poignant remembrance of another of his longtime compatriots, photographer Nigel eddis. the cause of Parr’s death was reportedly tuberculosis that led to pneumonia.
throughout a half-dozen careers that took him around the globe, Parr was a firebrand who spoke and wrote what he believed, regardless of the consequences. After his stormy three-year stint as editor of Chess Life, he became a moving force behind the extension of usCF voting privileges to all adult members. But his influence reached out to a world stage as well. his editorship of Glasnost News and Reviewis credited with nur- turing the rise of the independent press in the old soviet union at a time when it was strictly banned.
“Our friendship goes back to the 1980 Selangor Chess Open when we shared second place. Since that meeting, Larry has not only been a true friend but my mentor. He often referred to me as “Number Two.” (With Larry, I, like Clouseau’s Kato, always had to be vigilant and expect the unexpected!) Larry was constantly preparing me for better things, sharing knowledge. Forgive the cliché, but Larry was a walking encyclopedia. There was no topic that Larry could not speak on.
“Like a schoolboy excited about his first day of classes, Larry once wrote me, ‘Tomorrow is my first day as the editor of Chess Life.’ Chess Life meant a lot to Larry.
“On the eve of his passing, Larry saw things with such clarity that all of us were upbeat about his recovery. Larry began attending to matters that seemed to be on some kind of to-do list for the rest of his life. Yes, he was his usual talkative self … Little did I know that that would be the last time I would speak to him. Even then, he referred to me as ‘Number Two’!
“I was proud to call Larry Parr my friend. I will dearly miss him.” —Larry’s close friend from Kuala Lumpur, Collin Madhavan, recalls Larry’s generosity and his last day.
uschess.org
Chess Life — July 2011
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