Obituary Record

Dr. Larry Heller, 47, formerly of Heller Parkway, Newark, N.J. and a resident of New Orleans and Bay St. Louis, died Sunday, June 6, 1993 in Bay St. Louis.

Dr. Heller was a descendant of the founders of Heller Brothers Company (1836) of New Jersey and Ohio, and also was a descendant of John Hart, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Heller was born in Coschocton, Ohio, and raised in Newark, N.J. He graduated from New York University, University of Hawaii and Rutgers University. He attended Columbia

University and the American Institute of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis in New York City and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He began his working career as an; actor and box office manager at Paper Mill Playhouse, Milburn, N.J. He was a substitute teacher for the Newark Board of Education, a member of the National Teachers Corps, Honolulu, Hawaii, a psychiatric social worker at Essex County Hospital Center, and a supervisor and head psychotherapist of the psychiatric department at Southern Baptist Hospital, New Orleans.

He was in private psychotherapy practice in New York City and New Orleans. He was part owner of Halcyon House Antiques in Bay St. Louis.

Heller dedicated the past few years of his life to community endeavors. He is past president of the Hancock County Historical Society, past president of the Antique Dealers Association of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, past vice-president of the Bay St. Louis Little Theatre and past president of the Mystic Krewe of Apollo in New Orleans. He was King Apollo XII at the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans in 1981.

He served on the board of the Hancock Human Resource Center, was a patron of the Arts Council. He was a member of the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the Gulfport Little Theatre, the Bay Business Association and the People with AIDS project.

He directed Mara/Sade and La Cage Aux Folles. After publicly announcing that he was a person with AIDS November 1991, he volunteered with the state Department of Health with education on AIDS in the public school system and was involved in several fund-raising activities for AIDS. At the time of his death he was a team leader at retreats conducted by Samaritan Ministries of New Orleans, La.

Heller was preceded in death by his parents, Lawrence Burghardt Heller Sr. and Wilma Ester Phillips Heller.

Survivors include his long term companion Larry E. Timmerman; his sister, Joy Heller Lynch, Edmonds, WA.; his nephew, Robert Eric Guiliano Edmonds, WA.; and his cousin Judge Jo Ellen Grant, Kenner La.

A memorial service was conducted Saturday at St. Rose de Lima Catholic Church.

Donations to Samaritan Ministries, P.O. Box 71225 New Orleans, La. 70125-1225 or St. Rose de Lima Catholic Church in Bay St. Louis are preferred.

Edmond Fahey Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.

Source: Sea Coast Echo 6/13/1993