Larry Butcher, a professor emeritus of neuroscience at UCLA and the founder and former chair of the UCLA gerontology minor program, died Jan. 11 after a heart attack. He was 72.
Butcher’s family and friends knew him as a witty man who was devoted to his family and passionate about his research in neurology and gerontology.
He helped launch the gerontology minor program in 1995 at UCLA, which focuses on the study of the social, biological and psychological aspects of aging.
Butcher studied Alzheimer’s disease at the start of his career. He pioneered diverse fields such as studying neurotransmitters – dopamine in 1982 while also studying the effects of Alzheimer’s disease.
He was among the earliest researchers who began to investigate how small molecules affect behavior, said Nancy Woolf, Butcher’s wife of 29 years and a professor of neuroscience. His initial research in Alzheimer’s disease influenced him to study gerontology, Woolf said.
Butcher influenced young people to study aging by highlighting the problems facing aging baby boomers, said Fernando Torres-Gil, a professor of social welfare and public policy and the director of the center for policy research on aging.
“He was the godfather of undergraduate education in gerontology and inspired and mentored many students who are now pursuing graduate work and careers in aging,” Torres-Gil said.
Kimberly Suarez, a UCLA alumna and current doctoral student of gerontological social work practice and policy at Columbia University, took three of Butcher’s classes as an undergraduate.
She said Butcher’s excitement in his classes spurred her career interests in the field of gerontology. Suarez said she plans to research and teach in social work with a focus on aging and disability.
“Without his guidance and passion in the field of gerontology, I would not be doing this,” she said.
Butcher was more than a professor to Suarez – he was a close friend she could talk with, she said.
While working full-time as an educator and researcher, Butcher dedicated much of his time to his family.
Butcher and Woolf would work late hours researching in labs, but started doing research at home after their children were born, Woolf said.
Combining his love for humor and technology, Butcher would use a button-making machine to make buttons with jokes on them, crafts he would sometimes also wear, Woolf said.
A poster with the phrase “The Dead Neuron Society” hung on the wall behind his desk in his office in Franz Hall, Suarez said. It was a parody of the movie “The Dead Poets Society” because he studied dementia, she said.
“The poster had a double meaning to me and really captured who he was,” Suarez said. “The movie is about a teacher who inspires his students. (Butcher) was that to me.”
Butcher is survived by Woolf, two children, Lawson and Ashley Butcher, his sister Darlene Frederick and his brother James Butcher.