We are saddened to inform you that Larry Owen, Past President of the local Houston SFPE chapter passed away 2/03/16. He and his wife Lina were killed in an auto/pedestrian accident. Larry’s career in the fire protection industry spanned more than 45 years. He served the local SFPE chapter in several capacities in the early 1990’s including serving as President from 1993 to 1995. During his career Larry was able to accomplish several key things:
- During his tenure as local SFPE chapter President he included many meetings with new and innovative fire protection solutions and products
- Larry was also committed to finding new solutions (and developed or improved existing methods) in fire protection
- Larry was highly respected as the consummate professional in how he dealt with his customers and others in the fire protection community.
- Larry always continued to improve his knowledge through education, training, and contributions to professional societies and technical committees.
After his early years in the business in the Dallas Fort Worth area Larry moved to Houston in1978 and became an instrumental part of the early success with Webb, Murray and Associates. Larry moved to Dooley Tackaberry in 1996 and finished his career there. Since 1970, Larry had worked in a variety of fire protection roles including Consulting, Project Management, and Business Development. Most of Larry’s experience was directly related to the petrochemical, offshore, and power industries. He held a B.A. in Fire Prevention Technology and Fire Administration and served as Chair of the NFPA 750 Standard on Water Mist Fire Protection Systems. He also was a Committee Member on the NFPA 15 Standard for Water Spray Fixed Systems, the ISA-SP84, Programmable Electronic System (PES) for use in Safety Applications Standard, and ISA-SP12.13, Performance Requirements for Combustible Gas Detectors Standard. Larry was also a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers and Instrument Society of America (ISA).
Larry loved life and tackled his hobbies of fishing, golf, dirt track racing and traveling with the same intensity and dedication that he gave to his professional life. Larry also was highly involved in his church and family life. Larry and Lina were on the way to one of their grandchildren’s school event when the accident occurred.
Larry and Lina are survived by their daughters Michelle Owen and Denise Perry and seven grandchildren.
The memorial services will be at South East Church of Christ at
10:00 am Saturday February 6th 2016
2400 West Bay Area Boulevard
Friendswood, Texas 77546
281-992-2168
Larry was a benchmark in the fire protection industry and he will be greatly missed.
Sincerely,
The SFPE Officers
