Lawrence Franklin Altaffer, III, passed away unexpectedly on August 4, 2020. He was 73 years old. He is survived by his sister, Betty Lumpkin; his children Anne Asplin, Elizabeth Fedowitz, and Lawrence F. Altaffer, IV; and his grandchildren John “Max” Fedowitz, Henry Fedowitz, Grace Asplin, and Lawrence F. Altaffer, V. He is preceded in death by his parents, Virginia and Lawrence F. Altaffer, Jr., and his basset hound, Holly.

A memorial service will be held later in the fall.

Larry was born on January 7, 1947, to Virginia and Lawrence F. Altaffer, Jr. in Richmond, VA. He grew up in Warsaw, VA, where he spent his high school years at Rappahannock High playing football and baseball, and his summers sailing and fishing on the Rappahannock River. As a boy he earned the distinction of Eagle Scout – an honor he considered to be one of his most important achievements. He attended UVA as an undergraduate from 1965-1969 and served as President of the Student Body of UVA from 1968-1969. He was a fraternity brother of St. Elmo Hall (President 1969), a Grand Guru of the T.I.L.K.A. Society, and a member of the IMP Society. He then attended UVA Medical School from 1971-1975 and also spent time studying at the University of Oxford, Tulane University, and John Hopkins University.

In 1970 Larry married Courtenay Tayloe, and after completing medical school, he joined the Navy and he and Courtenay spent the next 7 years living and raising their children at naval bases in Portsmouth, VA, and Camp Lejeune, NC, where Larry served as a Medical Officer practicing urology. He left the Navy in 1982 and joined a private practice in urology in New Bern, NC. In 1985 he moved his family to Fredericksburg, VA, where he practiced urology at the Pratt Medical Clinic. After his divorce, Larry began to travel independently while reigniting his passion for painting that he had first developed while at UVA. He would then spend his summers living and painting in places such as Yellowstone National Park, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and Martha’s Vineyard. In 2012 Larry began spending every September renting an apartment in Paris, France, and by 2016 had made Paris his mostly full-time home. Over the next several years, he and his companion and friend, Laurence Rudolph, enjoyed travelling throughout Europe visiting museums, walking beaches, and discovering new cuisines.

Larry’s paintings have been exhibited in several exhibitions including the Oil Painters of America, Arts For The Parks, the Salmagundi Club, Paint America, the Salon International, and the Salon d’Automne in Paris, and was awarded Best In Show (Risser Award) at the Annual American Landscape Show at The Art League. Larry was an elected member of both the Washington Society of Landscape Painters and the Salmagundi Club.

Larry will be remembered for his exuberant love and admiration for the following: cigars, coffee, Claude Monet, Audrey Hepburn, luxury sport cars, good food, Ernest Hemingway, Mick Jagger, scouting, hunting for arrowheads and other artifacts, his mother’s spiced peaches and watermelon pickles, warm puppy bellies and velvety dog ears, Jack Nicolson, Emmy Lou Harris, Native American crafts and textiles, Burberry, Apple computers, reading biographies, Thomas Jefferson, the Big Bang Theory, bluegrass music, Martin guitars, watching multiple news outlets, Lord Baden Powell, a well-worn Brooks Brothers button-up shirt, comfortable shoes, American history, French culture, antique shopping, basset hounds, and the Appalachian mountains.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to The Central Appalachian Network.