Lawrence Augustus Rand

Born on November 28, 1943, Larry grew up in Morristown, New Jersey and graduated from Somerville High School in 1961. He went to Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA where he graduated with a degree in History in 1965. Larry later earned a degree as a Master of Science in Education from Temple University.

While at Dickinson, he was on the men’s tennis team, where he was the captain and MVP in his senior year, and a member of Alpha Chi Rho fraternity. Later during the 1970s, he became the coach of the Men’s Tennis team. He remained active with Dickinson throughout his lifetime as a co-class correspondent and served on the 50th reunion committee.

After college, he had a long career in the publishing business with Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and later became the regional Vice President for MacMillan & Co. His work took him to Mesa, Arizona, which is where he retired in 1995.

Ever the competitor, he became an avid Scrabble player, once ranked among the top 100 Scrabble players in the United States. It was through the game that he met his wife of 22 years, Barbara Van Alen. They were named Persons of The Year by the National Scrabble Association (NSA) in 2003 for their work with the Phoenix Scrabble Club and hosting NSA Scrabble tournaments. He and Barbara formed VanRand Travel under the auspices of AZ Trails Travel and organized more than 75 cruises with Scrabble tournaments on board.

Later in life, Larry loved to take walks for exercise. He and Barbara watched hundreds of movies from Netflix on discs, not streaming, and of course he kept a log of all of them! He was also an avid stamp collector.

Larry is survived by his wife, Barbara Van Alen of Chandler AZ, his children Allison Rand, and Scott (Emily) Rand. grandchildren Max (Melody) Rand, Macy Rand, Alec Happel, Lily Rand, Chloe Rand, Kale Graves, great-granddaughter Penelope Rand, and his cousins Nancy E. Swart and Anita Baxter.

He was close with Barbara’s family, her children Mark (Cathy) Countryman, Steffanie (Brett) Countryman, Stacey (Dan) Robertson, her grandchildren Christine (George) Crider, Erik (Trenda) Anderson, Richard Countryman, Monica (Steven) Countryman and great-grandchildren Christian, Teagan, Isabella “Izzy” and Brecklynn.

Larry was preceded in death by his mother Greta Strong, and his uncle Augustus “Gus” Swart, with whom he lived while growing up.

A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Word Game Players Organization, 4330 Vernon Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55436, of which Larry served on the Executive Committee and Board of Player Representatives. Please use this link to donate: wordgameplayers.org and select “Donate” from the Main Menu.