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Margaret Larsen
If there is one story to illustrate the heart and drive of Margaret Larsen, it begins with a frog.
The commercial real estate professional, award-winning leader and devoted philanthropist kept a decorative one as a reminder. “Imagine you have to eat a frog every morning,” she told her friends. “Do you eat it in the middle of the day? No, you eat it first thing in the morning. Whatever the challenge is, you get up, you do the hardest thing you need to do and you do it first and you do it well.”
This is what brings success in business and in life, she said.
Larsen, a beloved wife and mother whose fierce intellect and incredible style were matched only by her kindness and sassy Texan wit, died Oct. 28 after a battle with cancer.
“Margaret captured all the light in the room and shared it with everyone she met,” said friend and photographer Britta Van Vranken.
Born in San Angelo, Tex., Larsen pursued excellence throughout her life. She earned her MBA before age 21, was Rookie of the Year at Grubb & Ellis, was board chair at The Gregory School, was named a Tu Nidito “Remarkable Mom” and was a designated Guardian Angel for Angel Charity for Children. Larsen became a Distinguished Toastmaster in less than two years with the public speaking program – most participants take six years to achieve that, if at all.
She volunteered for Greater Tucson Leadership, which gave her its Alumni Excellence Award in 2022. She also gave her time to Fox Theatre Tucson, National Charity League and Tucson CREW. Larsen was a member of Silver & Turquoise Board of Hostesses and the Junior League of Tucson.
Soonalyn Jacob, one of her best friends, recalled meeting Larsen as a freshman at Colorado Women’s College. “For some reason, she got there early and knew the lay of the land before everyone else,” Jacob said. “She became the unofficial spokesperson for our class and representative of the college. She was the go-to person for everything, especially for fun.”
“She gave off this carefree aura, but studied hard and had a brilliant mind,” she said. “We had the same major, economics, and in her wonderful Texas twang accent, while the rest of us were
scratching our heads over a difficult problem, she announced out loud and to our very patrician professor...that there was an error in the textbook. The professor refused to believe it until Margaret proved it.”
Larsen started her professional life in Denver, before working for IBM in El Paso, Tex. But Tucson, a city she’d fallen in love with during a Spring Break trip, would provide her next, most important chapter: meeting husband George Larsen, founder of Larsen Baker, and raising daughter Olivia.
In a heartwarming tribute to his wife, George wrote that he interviewed her for a job in commercial real estate in 1987, but turned her down. She would then become Grubb & Ellis’ Rookie of the Year in 1988. “She ultimately forgave George and married him...but she didn’t let him forget,” he jokingly wrote. Olivia, whom they called “Sweet Angel,” earned her own MBA and now works for GiveWell in San Francisco.
Larsen’s most passionate cause was Angel Charity for Children, where she helped raise millions of dollars for disadvantaged children and was one of three “Guardian Angels” entrusted to guide the organization. After her cancer diagnosis, she used her time left to establish the Angel Charity Foundation to support the group through planned giving. Larsen was always a top seller of “Chance” tickets for the annual Angel Charity Ball. Fittingly, the ticket website recently crashed after so many bought tickets in her honor.
Fellow angel and longtime friend Elizabeth Naughton said she will miss Larsen’s zest for life.
“She made the world a better place with her amazing dedication to philanthropy to so many causes, but especially Angel Charity,” she said.
Larsen was also dedicated to The Gregory School, where Olivia attended. She not only led the search committee for a new leader in 2013, she served as board chair, trustee and honorary trustee. Last spring, she chaired the school’s 40th anniversary celebration.
“I remember my first year...I had to have awful ear surgery and I was still a bit wobbly, but I had scheduled a board retreat,” said Julie Sherrill, head of The Gregory School. “She reached out to me and said, ‘I will be there. I want you to have a cheerleader in your corner.’ That was the kind of person she was.”
“What we who love her will miss most is her exuberance, her friendship, her beauty, her brains, her resilience and her love of life,” George wrote. “She was kind and thoughtful and smart and sassy, all at the same time. She’d beat you in five straight games of Scrabble and then send you a thank you card for a wonderful evening.”
By Tara Kirkpatrick
