E. Lawrence Keyes Jr. ’51

Larry was born April 19, 1929, the son of Emily Shepley Keyes and Dr. Edward L. Keyes ’21.

Larry graduated from St. Louis Country Day School. At Princeton he majored in biology, belonged to Cottage, and graduated with honors. Larry roomed with Bob Akeley, Bob Jennings, and Ben Pepper.

He served in the Air Force as a navigation and intercept observer until his separation in 1956. That year he started work at Emerson Electric as an assistant to the president, and when he retired 30 years later, he was president of the company.

Emerson’s sales grew from $36 million at the time of his initial employment to $9 billion at the time of his retirement. Thereafter he was co-founder with Charlie Wulfing ’51 of Fortune Group, an investment-banking and business-consulting firm.

Larry died Jan. 12, 2013, in Delray Beach, Fla. He is survived by his wife of 32 years, Margaret Huttig Keyes; his daughter, Elizabeth White ’82; his sisters, Mary Otto w’47 and Emily Barksdale; his uncle, A. Samuel Cook ’43; brother-in-law Frederick A. Hermann ’46; and nephew and nieces L. Shepley Hermann ’75, Mary Lemkemeier ’89, and Missy Hermann ’04. His sister, Sally Hermann, predeceased him, as did his first wife, Mary Elliott Brandin.