Lawrence H. Rutland, Jr.

Lawrence H. Rutland, Jr., born October 26, 1931, in Colonie, New York, passed away in Greenfield Center, New York. The son of the late Lawrence H. Rutland Sr. and Florence Elvira (Kildoyle) Rutland, Larry graduated from Mont Pleasant High School in Schenectady in 1949. He earned a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and served with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1954 to 1957 in Monterey, California.

After his military service, Larry built a distinguished career in engineering. He worked for the New York State Department of Transportation and the Department of Environmental Conservation for 27 years before establishing his own structural engineering practice in 1985, which he ran until 2019. He also served as Town Engineer for the Town of Milton. Deeply committed to sharing his expertise, he volunteered with VITA, contributing to international development projects that included the design of buildings and bridges in Sierra Leone and other countries during the 1970s. These efforts brought him lasting friendships around the world.

Larry had a lifelong love of nature, folk music, art, and crafts. He cherished family camping trips in the Adirondacks and Maine, and from the mid-1960s onward, he regularly brought his family to Caffé Lena in Saratoga Springs, where he formed a personal friendship with Lena and remained part of the café community for decades. Together with his wife, Jan, he shared his appreciation for the arts with their children through art classes and festivals. In later years, he devoted himself to flameworking, operating North Creek Studios for more than 20 years. His handcrafted glass marbles, pendants, and whimsies were popular at local farmers markets and craft shows, and he regularly attended the International Flameworkers Conference.

Larry was predeceased by his beloved wife, Janet A. (Gavron) Rutland, whom he married on June 20, 1954, and who passed away on October 26, 2010, as well as by his sister, Elvira (Rutland) Gates, who died on April 18, 2015. He is survived by his four children, Linda Ryder, Scott (Jan) Rutland, Mark (Tammy) Rutland, and Eric (Donna) Rutland; seven grandchildren, Shannon Kruk Ritter, Corey (Ryan) Kruk Needham, Justin Rutland, Daniel Rutland, Joshua Rutland, Joseph Rutland, and John Rutland; ten great-grandchildren; and one great-great-granddaughter.