Larrison, Earl J. (Earl Junior), 1919-1987

Earl Junior Larrison (1919-1987) was animal researcher and professor of biology, University of Idaho, 1946-1982, and editor of the University of Idaho Press, 1982-1984.

Earl Junior Larrison was born in Mabton, Washington on Mother's Day, May 11, 1919. He was the son of banker Earl and Anna Marie (Kuble) Larrison. During his public school years in Seattle he was active in scouting, achieving the rank of Eagle Scout, and as a result he developed a keen interest in natural science and the outdoors. Following his graduation from Lincoln High School in 1936 he attended the University of Washington, earning a bachelor's degree, cum laude, in 1941. During the early years of World War II he was employed at Boeing as a chemist, and then returned to the University of Washington where he earned a master's degree in zoology in 1946. His thesis was on the chipmunks of the central Cascade Mountains of Washington. In 1946 he accepted a fellowship in the Laboratory of Vertebrate Biology at the University of Michigan to work under Dr. Lee R. Dice. He continued work toward a doctorate in zoology at the university until February 1949 when he accepted a position at the University of Idaho.

An animal researcher and author, Larrison taught biology, zoology, mammalogy, and ornithology at the university for over 30 years. During his tenure at the school he established the skeletal and pelt museum and the Audubon Room for bird studies at his own expense. He developed the Animal Research Library, with over 12,000 volumes, including many original prints. He was also instrumental in establishing the Idaho Academy of Science. He was the first person to catalog the animals and plants of the Owyhee Mountains near Boise, a project he undertook from 1949 to 1950.

In addition to his writing and research he was a professional photographer, with a vast collection of movies, prints, and slides of his natural science research. He was frequently a visiting science teacher in public schools in Idaho and Washington as well as a recurring speaker at student and civic groups in the Palouse region.

He was an accomplished organist and was proficient in German, French, and Latin. He wrote poetry and short stories and became an authority on Sir Walter Scott. His interest in Scott developed when a friend loaned him a life of Scott to read during a summer spent at the forest lookout on Mount Pilchuck, near Everett, Washington. By 1962, when he donated his collection to the University of Idaho Library, he had accumulated more than 500 volumes by and about the author.

He was editor of the University Press of Idaho from 1982 to 1984. Following his retirement from the university in 1984 he moved to his cabin near Newport, Washington, where he died of a heart attack on October 21, 1987.