The news spread quickly through the theater community that Emmet "Tony" Larimer, longtime friend, supporter, educator and patron of the arts, passed away Tuesday afternoon after a long battle with cancer. He was 79.
"I cannot tell you the number of e-mails that I have received just since he died," said Anne Cullimore Decker, a longtime friend and colleague who met Larimer 40 years ago, "They started coming in immediately — it's amazing how quickly the word spread."
Larimer, who moved to Utah in 1958, began teaching at St. Mark's School for Boys — later, turned Rowland Hall, where he taught English and directed the school's theater program. Upon Larimer's retirement in 1994, the school named its newly renovated auditorium the Larimer Center for the Performing Arts.
"The students at Rowland Hall learned to love Shakespeare through him, and learned to love the fine writers," Decker said. Larimer also used his theater background in the English classes, "His ability to recite orally brought it to life," Decker noted. "It's one thing to read the printed page, but you have a professor who can deliver the lines with such magnificence — that has to lift people's lives forever."
Larimer was also heavily involved with the local theater community — acting and directing in most area theaters, including Salt Lake Acting Company, The Grand Theatre, Plan-B Theatre Company, and The Egyptian Theatre Company. He did everything from Shakespeare to Arthur Miller to more contemporary playwrights.
"He did seven of our shows, as narrator," said Mary Ann Lee, artistic director of Children's Dance Theatre. "To have his professionalism, his warmth and the sheer joy that he expressed working with the kids in every rehearsal and show. He was really incredible."
Lee, who formed a close friendship with Larimer over the years, choked up when asked what it will be like without him. "You know I was just thinking that very thing after I went to see him last week. He wasn't talking, but he lifted his eyebrows at me and I just thought, 'Oh my goodness, I don't know what we'll do without Tony's Voice.'"
When not on stage, Larimer served on boards, including the Zap Tax Tier II panel, and he was honored for his many contributions to the arts community. In 2000, he received the Roene B. Difeore Arts in Education Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2001 he was the first actor to receive the Governor's Award in the Arts. In 2005, he was named Honorary Alumnus of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Utah.
"He was everything you'd want him to be, and also just a lovely gentle gentleman and such an enthusiastic performer," Lee added. "He always told me it was really an honor and privilege to be on stage with the children — and he meant that. He just loved doing it."
"Personally I have lost a very dear friend," Decker added. "The only thing that helps is we've been waiting for this since 2007. He was ready, he said, 'It's time. I've have a great journey and it's been a good life and it's time,' so that helps because it's part of life."
"But the memories I have will just be there forever, and they will be in my presence all the time," Decker said.
A service of remembrance will be held Saturday, March 7, 1 p.m., at St. Mark's Cathedral, 231 E. 100 South. Following the service there will be a party celebrating Tony's life in the Dean's Hall of the Parish Center.
He is survived by his sons Tim and Grant, and Grant's daughters Kate and Alaina, and by his wife Marie and her son Jack Newman, and his son Peter, and Marie's three daughters Pat Miller, her daughter Gail, Gael Pardi, and her daughters Julie and Kate, and Merri Newman, and her son Max. A niece Lynn Larimer Sneed also survives.
In lieu of flowers, Tony hoped that friends would remember him by making a donation to the Rowland Hall-St. Mark's School Scholarship Endowment.
E-mail: ehansen@desnews.com