Larry Simpson
April 28, 1949 - April 15, 2026

Larry Simpson was born in Palo Alto on April 28, 1949, the son of George and Vilma Simpson, a New York City orphan and a Cuban immigrant, respectively. They started life anew out west after the war and Larry was their first-born child. 

Larry spent his childhood in various Bay Area towns and cities as his parents moved frequently pursuing the American dream. It was an opportunity to become acquainted with many communities, their surroundings, and to make new childhood friends in each of them. Larry lived for a time in Palo Alto, San Francisco, Los Gatos and Santa Rosa. A bout with Polio left him bedridden for an extended period as a child. However, his subsequent recuperation imparted in him a desire for physicality, as well as a zest for life. 

Santa Rosa was still just a growing town in the mid-1960s, and it was there that he spent his late formative teen years. Larry excelled in track and cross-country, with a personal best in the mile at just over four minutes! His early success in running led to a lifelong passion for fitness. 

Another lifelong passion was kindled during that time: FISHING! Every day after school Larry would go fishing in the woods and waterways around Santa Rosa. Newly built ponds on creeks for power and flood control surrounded the growing town and they were teaming with bass and panfish. These experiences sparked in Larry a curiosity for the outdoors, and the rhythms of the natural world. 

After graduating from high school in 1967, and looking to make his mark on the world, Larry followed his passions of fishing and the outdoors north to Humboldt County. He came to Humboldt with a small savings, his beloved MG convertible, and his giant German Shepard, Rex. He enrolled in Humboldt State College, majoring in… what else but FISHERIES!

The first years on his own were hard yet exhilarating. To save money Larry roomed with his friend Dan in an old milk barn for two years. The rent was cheap and the living was tough. The winters were extra cold without insulation, any hot water, and an outhouse for a bathroom. 

To make a living, he counted fish part time for the State of California and fished commercially. The commercial fleet back in those days was thriving. The fishing season worked nicely with Larry’s school schedule. He crabbed in the winter and then he fished salmon and tuna all through the summer months. In the fall and spring, he went back to school. Aside from a few near brushes with death and some harrowing experiences at sea, Larry was quite successful as a deckhand. In three years he managed to save enough for a down payment on a house. 

Larry bought his first property in 1970 that later became the Simpson homestead. It was a small piece of the old Junker ranch in McKinleyville purchased from the matriarch of the Junker family. It consisted of a small, funky, ranch house and a few acres of country land. Because he was at sea for much of the year, and needed to lower expenses, it only made sense to have some college friends as roommates! The result was an “Animal House” style cast of characters and stories consisting of Larry, Gary, Rick, Big Larry, Rex the dog and Hover the dog that were unforgettable. 

By 1972 Larry was nearly through with school and was thinking about his next steps in life. During his years in college, any free time was spent outdoors exploring the natural wonders of Humboldt County with friends. During one of these adventures, he met the love of his life, Rebecca (Becky). The story goes that Larry was out in Fieldbrook helping his friend John clear an old growth log that had fallen across access to his rural cabin. The two were planning their day of demanding work to buck up the log and deliver it to one of the local shingle mills, when John’s girlfriend stopped by with her cousin, Becky. They all chatted a bit, and Larry and Becky seemed to hit it off. Later it came up in conversation that there was an upcoming concert at the Van Duzer Theater. John said the girls would like to go, but it was nearing the end of the semester and money was getting tight. Larry, now flush with cash from the literal (log) windfall and commercial fishing, offered to buy Becky a ticket. They went to the concert on a date. The rest is history, as they say. The two were together from then on for over 50 years.

Larry was also quietly honing his skills in the outdoors as well. Eventually his knowledge of fly and sport fishing reached a professional level. He learned the best lure patterns and fishing holes on the six rivers and the ocean, how and when to fish them, and even more importantly, he knew how to get to all the best spots. 

Facing the prospect of a career using his soon-to-be degree in fisheries to work for either the Department of Fish and Game or the logging companies, Larry decided neither was too appealing. Instead, he chose a third path and opened his first retail fly fishing tackle store across from Arcata Fire Department in 1972. He named it “Time Flies”! This first small store was referred to in later years as “the phone booth,” “the closet” or the “shoe box.” It was so small that there was only room for a counter, a rod rack and one chair for a potential customer.

A curiosity at first, Time Flies quickly became an Arcata institution as the place to go for knowledge and equipment to fish the North Coast. Some customers eventually became employees and lifelong friends. Larry’s passion for fishing was unmatched, and he put that energy into the business. He was always knowledgeable with good advice on where the hottest bite could be found, even to the annoyance of Becky, at times. As she recalls, the old rotary phone would often ring during dinner and Larry would gladly take the time to inform a fellow angler about who was catching where, and with what.

Time Flies quickly outgrew the “shoebox” location and moved into a storefront in the Arcata Hotel. This provided great exposure on the town square and the business kept expanding. Fly tying classes and a guide service were added to the list of services. In the early 1980’s, the store outgrew that location as well and Time Flies relocated again, this time to J Street. It was a much larger warehouse type building behind the current Co-op, and there was room to expand. It was there the business really hit its stride, including employing several staff, expanding the guide service and featuring a large retail showroom. It even spun off a wholesale supply business called “Sea Run Tackle Sales.” Around this time Larry and Becky had their first and only son, Seth.

The good times rolled until 1989 when recession, severe drought, decreased fish stocks and increased regulation pressured the business. Faced with tough choices, in 1989, Larry sold the retail business Time Flies but kept the wholesale business, Sea Run Tackle Sales. He believed the scale and large accounts of the wholesale business had the best potential to weather the economic storm. Unfortunately, those large accounts were not immune to the economic challenges. Many of the stores he supplied went out of business or couldn’t pay their bills. This left Sea Run Tackle absorbing the losses. In 1992, Larry closed the business after a long 20-year run as a local independent fishing outfitter. 

Though painful, Larry was now ready for his next chapter in business. On the advice of a mutual business consultant, he went to work for a local company in the garden soil industry called Cascade Forest Products. Cascade was a pioneer in the green waste recycling industry. There, Larry became a one-man sales and marketing department, proposing an idea for a natural and organic line of potting soil and amendments called “Gardener & Bloome.” The brand was bought and sold several times and Larry went with it. It eventually became the premier soil line for independent garden centers throughout the western states. It still exists and is thriving today!

During the heart of the 2008 financial crisis, Larry was let go from the latest company to acquire the brand Kellogg Garden Products. After many years of loyal service to the brand, he now found himself unemployed in one of the worst economic environments of his lifetime. Luckily, he had an excellent reputation from his 15 years in the gardening industry and within days he was considering multiple new job offers.

He chose to work for another pioneering company in organic agriculture, Mycorrhizal Applications (MA). MA was a bio-agricultural start-up based in Grant’s Pass, Oregon. The company had figured out how to harness and cultivate microorganisms (mycorrhizae) to boost organic crop yields. For Larry, the prospect of being in another emerging agricultural industry was extremely exciting. Over the next eight years he worked in tandem with MA management to successfully grow the business. The company’s startup success put it on corporate radars, and it was acquired by Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo Industries in 2015. In 2016, Larry was able to retire successfully having spent 24 years in the organic agricultural industry.

In retirement, Larry was able to spend more time with his first loves: fishing, friends and family. His ten years in retirement were spent on many fishing trips locally and across the western states. He bought and restored a large “bartender” fishing boat. He enjoyed having it docked at Woodley Island and using it to fish for rockfish, halibut, salmon, and tuna, with good success out of the Eureka port. These trips always included his best fishing buddies from friendships he made in 50 years of angling on the North Coast. He so very much valued his time with them! After having spent so much time on the road selling and marketing during his professional career, Larry also valued his time at home. He and Becky spent time together on their little homestead that they had built together over 50 years. Larry continued to improve the property, raise livestock, and enjoyed working on tackling projects with each new season. 

In the past few years Larry was diagnosed and treated successfully for prostate cancer. A precautionary follow-up radiation treatment carried with it some expected side effects. So, when Larry was feeling a little under the weather earlier this year, it was not unexpected. However, by March it became apparent that something else was wrong. An emergency room visit resulted in a new diagnosis of Stage 4 liver cancer, unrelated to his previous illness. The prognosis was days to live. Like many things in Larry’s life, he viewed the situation as a challenge, and he met it with as much grace and positivity as he could muster. Typical of his consistently positive attitude, he chose to travel to UCSF for a “Hail Mary” pass, in hopes for more time to spend with those he loved. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be done. Larry was able to return to his beloved Humboldt County and passed peacefully soon after on April 15, 2026. 

Larry’s life was filled with adventure, adversity, struggle and success. He spent countless happy hours in the sun, in the outdoors and on the water. His favorite surroundings were nature and its beauty. He filled his time growing his circle. He surrounded himself with friends, family, and he always enjoyed helping others. Larry lived passionately! In his final days, he felt immensely grateful for all the people he had come to know and all the experiences he was able to share with them throughout his life. We only wish our time with him had been just a little longer.

Larry is survived by his wife Rebecca Simpson, son Seth Simpson, daughter-in-law Diana Simpson; his sister, Eileen Valdez-Woods; half-brothers Kevin and Norman Brown; and stepbrothers Larry, Dennis and Jeff Kyler.

Larry is preceded in death by his father, George Simpson and his stepmother, Ada Simpson; his mother, Vilma Brown and his stepfather, Burton Brown; his brother Alan Simpson, and his stepbrother Stephen Brown.

A celebration of life and memorial will be held in his memory on Sunday, May 17, 1-4 p.m. in Redwood Lodge at Redwood Park, Arcata. Anyone who knew and cared about Larry in his nearly 60 years in Humboldt County is welcome to attend. A few tears are likely to be shed, and fish stories will be told. 

A special thank you to the medical and nursing staff at St. Joseph and UCSF hospitals for your care of Larry and our family in his final days. 

In lieu of flowers and in remembrance of Larry, please take time to take someone fishing, go for a hike with a friend, or clean up some trash from a local waterway. Please teach others to do the same. 

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Larry Simpson’s family. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.