Laurence “Larry” Alan Polsky, 71, of Leawood, Kansas, died Oct. 26, 2022, surrounded by his family.
He was born July 20, 1951, in Kansas City, Missouri, to the late Norman and Elaine Polsky.
Larry graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School. He attended Outward Bound survival school during the summers. He became a staff member and saved the life of a coworker who had fallen off the top of a waterfall. Larry pulled the injured coworker from a pool of water and ran two miles to phone for help.
Larry studied to become a diesel mechanic at North Central Kansas Technical College before volunteering at Kibbutz Sarid in Israel during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. He later graduated from the University of Kansas with a BA in Business.
Larry went to work for his father at Fixtures Furniture following graduation. He earned No. 1 salesperson honors by selling the company’s first $1-million chair order. Larry left Fixtures to run his own table company, Surface Technologies Inc. He operated the company for more than 40 years.
Larry traveled across the globe, including stops in Asia and Eastern Europe. He loved annual trips with family to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, best. The years where his bonus daughter, Elisa Recht, and her family were able to join were especially meaningful to him. Larry loved to go to the Jewish Community Center to exercise, play racquetball and schmooze. He was a lifelong member of Congregation Beth Shalom and enjoyed going to his morning services, particularly for "Larry Polsky Monday."
Larry’s family and friends were his greatest passion. He married the love of his life, Ellen Ginsburg, daughter of the late Sidney and Roz, in 1977. He deeply loved his three children, Renée, Jennifer and Joseph, and the family’s many dogs. Larry’s greatest joy was becoming “Pops” to his six grandchildren. He grinned from ear to ear when they stuck their finger in their mouth and “popped” it out as a way to formally greet him.
Larry’s wonderful sense of humor and kind temperament enabled him to find friends everywhere he went. He was a beloved father, son, brother and friend, a community leader and a dedicated businessman. But more than anything, he wanted to be remembered as a “good guy.” All who encountered him knew that to be more than true.
Larry is survived by his wife, Ellen, of 45 years; daughter and son-in-law Renée and Larry Silver; daughter and son-in-law Jennifer and Adrian Salazar; son Joseph Polsky; bonus daughter and son-in-law Elisa and Rick Recht; grandchildren Nathan, Elaine and Sophie Silver and Noah, Eliana and Sydney Salazar; bonus grandchildren Kobi and Tal Recht; brother and brother-in-law Steve Polsky and Mark Oliver; sister Karen Kent; sister-in-law Janey Goodman; brother-in-law and sister-in-law Byron and Gerri Ginsburg; cousins Mark Horowitz, Dennis Horowitz and Robert Broudy; and many loving nieces and nephews. Larry is preceded in death by parents Norman and Elaine Polsky; brother Joel Polsky; parents-in-law Sidney and Rosalind Ginsburg; sister-in-law and brother-in-law Sharon and Jim Greenwood and Stanley Goodman.
Funeral services were held on Oct. 28. 2022, at Louis Memorial Chapel, 6830 Troost Ave. followed by burial at Mount Carmel Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City and Congregation Beth Shalom.
