ROBERT Y. LARSEN

Robert Y. Larsen  was trained at the Yale School of Fine Arts and the Rhode Island School of Design. His art work has been exhibited at the Connecticut Academy of Fine Art, the Academic Artists Association of Massachusetts, the Copley Society, and is a recipient of the Manship Prize from the North Shore Arts Association for excellence in drawing. 

Bob enlisted in the Connecticut National Guard while at Yale,  but his studies were interrupted when his Guard unit was called to active duty with the invasion of South Korea in 1950. After graduating from Officer Candidate School  at Fort Benning, Georgia he left for Korea in December 1952, and led a heavy mortar platoon with the 65th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division at the Main Line of Resistance, earning a Combat Service Badge. He was discharged in July 1953 with the rank of First Lieutenant and is  a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2498 in Needham, Massachusetts. (See more about Bob's service in "With Love, from the 38th Parallel" on this site). 

Bob's commitment to public service continued in his hometown of Needham, Massachusetts for over 60 years. His contributions to Needham include 47 years as a Town Meeting Member and service on several town committees, including the Memorial Park Gazebo Committee for which he created the fundraising lithograph. Bob served on the Fallen Brave Memorial Committee and designed the bas-relief medallion sculpted into the granite at Memorial Park that honors Needham’s 92 fallen veterans.  

For decades Bob contributed drawings for the covers  of the Needham phone book, including the rendering of the Town Hall that served as the model for banners displayed over Needham’s main streets.  His formal portraits hang in the Needham Library, the Needham History Center, and the Needham Community Council. As a member of the Needham Exchange Club he contributed designs and drawings for the Club's annual 4th of July celebrations. 

In recognition of his public service, Bob has received the 2014 Richard Patton Melick Foundation Award, the Superintendent’s Award for Distinguished Service, the Needham Exchange Club’s Extraordinaire Award, and the Needham Business Association’s Distinguished Citizen of the Year Award. 

In addition to his long career as a commercial and portrait artist, Bob published hundreds of editorial cartoons in the Needham Times. In 2003 he was awarded First Place for Editorial Cartooning by the New England Press Association.  Bob was married to his wife Elizabeth for 64 years, and was the father of two children. He  passed away in December 2023 at age 96 after a long and beautiful life.