William G. Larsen, Jr. (1945-2024)

Sandy Larsen passed away June 12 from cancer. Sandy came to Princeton from Burlingame, CA and the Thacher School in Ojai, CA. He father was William G. Larsen '41, a surgeon and chief of staff at San Mateo's Mills Hospital. At Princeton, Sandy majored in History and was a member of Tiger Inn. Sandy's last profile in the class directory lists his roommates as Kit Mill, Bob Mueller, Chuck Merlini, David Van Horne, Bob Bedell, Joe Luongo, and Ron Landeck, although Kit says they varied from year to year, and "Junior year he had 24 roommates as we took over Laughlin 5."

After Princeton, Sandy served in the Marines (1st Lt., U.S. Marine Corps, US, Vietnam (2/69-1/70), 1967–1970; 11 Air Medals) and then earned his MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1972.

Obituary and Memorial Service

Sandy's siblings, Kay and Bob, sent the following obituary.

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved brother, William G. Larsen, Jr., who passed away peacefully at home on June 12, 2024. He was 79 years old.

Sandy, as he was fondly called by his friends and family, was born on January 15, 1945 to Dr. and Mrs. William G. Larsen in New York City. He grew up in San Mateo, California, graduated from The Thacher School in Ojai, California, and went on to graduate from Princeton University in 1966. After a grand motorcycle tour of Europe with several of his friends, he returned to California and at the age of 23 Sandy joined the Marine Corps as a bombardier/navigator. He flew A-6s in Vietnam. He valued his service highly, attaining the rank of First Lieutenant.

Following his service in the Marine Corps Sandy went on to earn an MBA from the Stanford Business School. Upon graduating he worked for Price Waterhouse. He then moved on to the Bank of America as a senior loan officer. From there he went on to develop a start-up company which he and another friend ran, hiring executives in advertising and marketing. This company was then sold to a renowned international company and Sandy was able to retire and move to his beloved Sonoma home.

In his free time, Sandy enjoyed maintaining a close relationship with friends from high school, college and his time in service. When he moved to Sonoma 24 years ago, he eventually joined the monthly “Bill & Dave” hikes. They were known as “The 3 Amigos.” For 20 years they explored throughout Northern California with many followers, sometimes as many as 100 from the Bay Area. Sandy’s expert navigational skills were greatly appreciated. As he became ill, he was devastated that he was no longer able to continue to pursue his passion for the mountains.

His family was and continued to be extremely important to him. He was a loving and caring brother and uncle who was always there for his family whenever they needed him. He is survived by his younger siblings, Kay and Bob, and he will be deeply missed by all who knew him.

A service with military honors, followed by internment alongside brothers-in-arms will be held 10:30 am, Thursday, July 18, 2024 at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery, 5810 Midway Rd Dixon, CA, followed by a Celebration of Life in his hometown of Sonoma, California.

Sandy chronicled many of his activities in our reunion books:

40th Reunion:

"Classmate and former roommate Kit Mill started a temporary services company in San Francisco in late 1993. I joined him about two months later as CFO and we focused on finding temporary (and sometimes permanent) positions for advertising and marketing individuals in the Bay Area. We worked hard but laughed harder--just like the 'old days'. We eventually sold the company to a much bigger firm in mid-1998 and stayed on for another year to help in the transition. At that point I said, 'Why bother to keep working?'"

50th Reunion:

"In 2001 I moved to Sonoma in the 'wine country' about an hour north of San Francisco and enjoy the relaxed pace of life here. I spend a lot of time hiking and trail-building, and am serving as president of our local mutual water company (24 customers). I don't get paid, but I do get to read the water meters with a wonderful neighbor who is 87. I recently decided to take up golf again and joined the local club. I'm now focused on getting back down to double digits."

55th Reunion:

"Still living happily in Sonoma, California. Major wildfires nearby in 2017 and 2020, but fortunately house is still fine. Fun hiking trip to Canada with woman friend (Mary Lou) in 2018 (Banff, Lake Louise, etc.). Smithsonian cruise to Alaska with Mary Lou followed by land excursion to Denali area. Now hunkered down trying to avoid the dreaded Covid. Have seen Cartwright, Mill, and Van Horne, among others, since our 50th."

Nassau Herald

Memories and Tributes

Kit Mill: Remembrances of Sandy Larsen, My Great Buddy. Three Stories.

One: Roommate

I met Sandy (Sands), Dave Van Horne (Horne) and Skip Porter (Skip had gone to Thacher with Sands and Horne. He was the son of Don Porter who was the principal of the school where “My Little Margie” worked. He decided not to return to Princeton after freshman year) in front of Brown after a skiing trip with Bedell and Merlini, residents of Brown---right there and then we decided to room together---Larsen, Van Horne, Porter, Merlini, Rogers, with whom I was rooming in Brown freshman year, and Bruce Gates, who was rooming next to Rogers and Mill in Brown. We lived in the 11th entry of Holder sophomore year.

My folks came out to visit in the spring of sophomore year. Dad saw what great friends Sands and I had become and surmised that perhaps maybe we were “not applying ourselves” (his words) as diligently as we should. Dad and Mom were on the third floor, our party room, music blaring, of the 11th entry when Dad asked if he could talk to Sands and me “outside.” We went outside through the arch on the north side of Holder and sat on a bench. Dad, standing, said: “Sandy are you and Kit going to get kicked out?” Sands replied: “No, Mr. Mill, we’re having way too much fun to get kicked out.” My father and Sands were great friends for the rest of their lives.

Two: Borderline OCD

Sands came back from Vietnam where he was the Bombardier/Navigator on an A-6, the perfect job for this intense, organized, and diligent man. After Nam, he went to Stanford Business School, got a degree and began working at Price Waterhouse. He lived in San Mateo. We lived in the City (SF). Susan and I would visit him and stay for the weekend. He’d leave us a key in some shed, as I recall. We’d let ourselves into his apartment. I would go the refrigerator, and inside there were rows of cans of beer and soda---one facing of Corona, three cans lined up, facing perfectly forward, one facing of Schweppes Tonic, one facing of Coke, one facing of Diet Coke. The shelves were perfect, everything else in perfect order. OCD?

We’d always bbq. He had a small red spiral notebook and kept track of every bbq he’d ever done---thickness of the meat, heat of the fire, how long he’d cooked it and how it had come out. Freaky. The first time we visited I checked the old Weber bbq on his deck to see if he had any charcoal left inside. He got home and prepared to bbq and said: “Have you been fiddling with the bbq, the top is not against the same deck post where I always put it?” Seriously? OCD

On subsequent visits, we’d let ourselves in and I’d go to the refrigerator and mess up the order and tip over several of the cans of beer and soda. His response: “That’s not funny.”

Three: Merlin

I finally got kicked out of the ad business in SF in 1991. I couldn’t get another job in the ad business in SF; the town’s too small, but I did know lot of the people running big companies in SF and a lot of the freelancers---copy writers, art directors, media people, account people. I took out a loan from BofA saying that I needed a new kitchen. Susan Mill was not pleased. Merlin Freelancers was born. Get it? We’d send people who could work their magic.

I rented a small office at 50 California at a law firm, Tarkington, O’Connor and O’Neal, from a partner/friend, John O’Connor.

I felt comfortable with the “front of the store” but quickly realized that I was uncomfortable with the “back of the store”---business software program, paying freelancers, paying back the loan, etc.

At the time Sands was not working. He had been the CFO of a failed tech start-up. He had business cards made; they read: “President” of a company called “Leisure Inc.” I called him and asked him if he would help me. He said he would work three days a week but I‘d have to pay him $40. an hour. I agreed.

Sands lived in Burlingame at the time. He’d take the same train every morning from the San Mateo station. He’d arrive at the office at 8:13 like clockwork. What else? OCD. I’d have coffee made. He’d drink what he called “Coffee Misto”, half coffee, half hot water. Ugh. Why bother?

He worked for a month or two; we’d been in business about 5 months, and it looked like we may have a company. Sands was coming in five days a week now, and finally we agreed that we were in this together. We had business cards made up, Sands as CFO; I was President. He was still making $40 an hour for 3 days a week. I was making nothing but we were making money and covering the nut.

Sands bought a software package, MYOB (Mind Your Own Business). Really. He set up the freelancer payment system. We/he W-2’d the freelancers, which was unusual but smart at the time, because our clients-to-be were treating freelancers as temp employees---1099ing and the Government was not getting the taxes they were owed. It was one of the biggest reasons other than luck and Sands, that we were successful.

We moved into a great little office at 201 Spear St., five offices and a common public area. Sands took the corner office, huge, and I had the one next to him. I walked into his office after we’d moved in asked him to explain MYOB. He said: “No, get out of my office, get out there and sell and don’t ask me again.”

It was working. I was drawing a salary, so was Sands. We had big clients—Schwab, Visa, BofA, PacBell, FCB, McCann. We were paying off the loan on time. Thanks to Sands.

Big clients would pay every 60-90 days. Sands would get in tough with the CFOs of these companies and demand that we get paid within 14 days or we’d pull our freelancers. Every client agreed. Our float was next to nothing. Sands would have to remind Visa every two weeks what they owed us and made me go down to Foster City, their headquarters, and pick up the check on the 14th day.

We had the same lunch every day to be frugal, a 12” tuna fish Subway sandwich. We split it. It was $4.19. Sands kept track daily on a calendar sheet as to who paid the extra $.01. I am not kidding.

We sold Merlin in July of 1998 to Robert Half, International (RHI). They became a big board company by buying franchise operations of Account Temps. When they bought us, the SVP of RHI said: “This is most buttoned-up company that we’ve ever bought.”

Thanks, Sands, a friend whom I trusted implicitly and a man with the best sense of humor I’ve ever known.

Hemingway said that you only get five friends in the world. Sandy Larsen is one of mine.

Ron Landeck:

So sad to hear of Sands’ passing. As authentic as they come, “Somfinat” was a joy to be around. His dry, sacrilegious sense of humor brought all sorts of matters into perspective, reminding those of us in his orbit not to take ourselves too seriously, a life lesson I treasure. He even could make Mueller laugh without constraint, a rare feat. Our friendship ran deep despite many years of separation following our PU days. Kit tells me that his later in life relationship with Mary Lou was a blessing, which brings consolation in these circumstances.

Ord Elliott:

Sandy, what a great guy, sort of takes my breath away to hear he’s gone, but then, one by one we are headed out these days.

Jake Cartwright:

Sandy will be missed by so many of us. We met freshman or sophomore year and although we were never roommates, we shared much of our Princeton experience, especially the last two years as members of Tiger Inn. We served in the Marines together and when I arrived in Danang in late November of 1969, Sands was there to meet me. He had about two months left of his twelve month tour, and I was just beginning mine. We made the most of those two months.

We didn’t see much of each other after the USMC until I moved from Connecticut to the Bay Area in 1989. Sandy was living in San Mateo and I joined him there. From then on, we saw each other nearly every weekend to go out for a burger and a tall cool one, or for throwing something on the Weber at one or the other’s house.

Sandy was an avid hiker and we hiked countless miles locally in the Santa Cruz mountains and spent even more time around Yosemite. A particularly great trip was when we decided to celebrate our 50th year with a weekend of hiking in the Mammoth Lakes area, south and east of Yosemite, joined by John Theobald, Kit Mill and Dave Van Horne. It was a Mammoth 50th.

Sandy left San Mateo for Sonoma in the early 2000s, but we continued to see each other frequently. After Nancy and I left California in 2015 for Oro Valley, Arizona, Sands was still a frequent visitor, any time of the year except the summer. The Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson had on display the aircraft we both flew in Vietnam, the A-6 Intruder for Sandy and the F-4 Phantom for me. So like a couple of senior citizens who didn’t realize how old we’d become, we would look at those aircraft and think and talk about those years and the fifty plus years since then that had passed by so quickly.

I feel very fortunate to have shared a sixty year friendship with Sandy, he was the kind of friend who doesn’t come along that often in life. He was thoughtful, generous and kind, with an unforgettable dry sense of humor. We shared the same values and there was never a time when it wasn’t great to be in his company. It is difficult to realize that he has left us.

Additional Photos

2008 - Sandy at Yosemite

Undated. L-R: Jake Cartwright, John Theobald(d), Kit Mill, Sandy Larsen

L-R: Sandy Larsen, Bob Bedell, Bob Mueller, David Van Horne, and Kit Mill

in San Francisco, 2001 when Bob Mueller was nominated to be FBI Director

L-R: Kit Mill, John Theobald(d), Jake Cartwright, and Sandy Larsen

celebrating upcoming 50th birthdays - Mammoth Lakes, CA

Van Horne took the photo

Mammoth Lakes: Clockwise from top: Mill, Theobald (d), Larsen, Van Horne, Cartwright

Sandy Larsen, Bob Mueller, and Kit Mill in the FBI Director's Office

If you have additional photos or memories that you wish to share, please send them to the '66 Memorial Team (66_MemorialTeam@tiger1966.org). We will add them to this page.