We love you Brent and will miss you deeply. Hope you are meeting with Mac and Bob for many rounds of golf in heaven. You will always be in our hearts and fond memories. And we will smile.
See you in the next world, Becky & Jeb
Kirkwood won't be the same without you. You will be missed. Make some awesome powder turns in heaven Brent.
Lynne & Dave Myers
Love you so much Dad! I'm thinking about you all the time. I miss you tons. I remember your laugh and your funny and not so funny jokes. You cared so much for us all and taught us so much. I will always be grateful for you as my Dad and our great years together. Thank you so much. I hope you're enjoying endless powder runs in the snowy mountains above us. Xo
Brent hired me at Protein Design Labs back in 1994. Brent had a huge heart. And what a laugh! Brent had a 'can do' attitude that was contagious. Easily one of the best bosses I ever had, and, as I always used to say, Brent was one of those rare people that I would trust to watch my children. Above all Brent cared about people. Thank you Brent for taking a chance on me. XO. Rest in peace.
Sad news. Brent Larsen - what a rascal! From another PDL alumnus: Brent was a breath of lively fresh air in the staid confines of biotechnology. And, really, anybody who loves skiing that much has to be AOK. A good listener; likely a great Dad, and it was clear he loved and was proud of his whole family. Adios, Brent.
Wish we could have had the time to ski together and get to know each other. We've been family by marriage for years and I regret we didn't spend more time together. I always remember "big brother" Brent, but didn't get to spend much time with him. But I know Jamie loved him so much. Much love to you and your family. Thinking of you. Tina and Zeke
Please see the Story page for more wonderful tributes to Brent from Cynthia Gross and Larry Dumont.
It didn't matter what Brent was doing - he was always making things better for those around him, whether in his professional life developing new drugs to help countless lives or in his private life helping others in so many ways. He took pride in his family, his home and his cars. He was the greatest host possible. You are loved and will be remembered forever. Love, Louise
I still remember the first time I met Brent at Maxygen. One day, I was at lab tried to fix my HPLC. A man with crazy curly hair, sweat shirt and jeans came over and helped me to fix the problem. He was so knowledgeable and handy. I though he was the engineer from the instrument company.
Brent was so full of life. His energy was contagious.
I worked with Brent at Berlex. He always made me laugh, a sign of a truly good person.
Brent and his family were my neighbors in Foster City.
Brent always had a smile and a wave to us whenever he was outside usually working in his garage or washing the family cars.
( they had the cleanest cars in the neighborhood) He was so happy to be retiring with Nancy in Minden. I was very saddened to hear he had passed. He was a great guy.
Another voice from PDL. I remember many business dinners drawing chromatograms and scribbling molecular structures on napkins and table cloths. Brent was a good friend, teacher, mentor and colleague.
You will be missed. I hope God has stocked up on Stoli!
I was privileged to work with Brent at Maxygen/Perseid for several years. Hard to imagine a nicer colleague - always helpful, insightful and great sense of humor. Always willing to share his passion for science - no matter what kind of protein we were making, Brent always had an example of something similar he'd worked on. I'll miss watching his face light up when looking at fresh data.
It was an honor working with Brent for several years. I learned so much about science as well as life from him. He was such an honest, down to earth and enthusiastic leader whose door was always open for questions. We had long chats about skiing (Bear Valley misses you!), protein purification and beer. I loved his unorthodox approaches to problems.
Brent in lab was like a kid in a candy store. So much joy doing experiments and solving problems. No personal ego, office politics, or B.S. Just good science and teaching others. Like everyone else, I also learned so much from Brent. I will miss our Japan and Germany trips when he and I would often separate from the group and hit the bar for some 1:1 bonding.
Brent was teaching me how to ski one time when I was younger. We came to a stop, and as we were about to go again, some lady careened right into me and wiped me out. I will never forget Brent saying "GEEEZ LADY, WHAT ARE YA DOIN?!?!?!" But if you had been there to see the wry smile on his sunglassed face as he said it, you would have seen Brent being Brent. I will miss him greatly.
Brent's hair style and straightfoward attitude always makes me thinking about mad scientist, Einstein... I may see a few people like him in graduate school, but really few in Biopharm...his intuition, wisdom always sparkles in our project meetings. Brent, I am sure you are skiing now where there is no boundary.
Brent grew up skiing with his dad and uncles. He became skilled and continued a lifetime of love for that sport. At the beginning of his career I remember his 'overflowing' enthusiasm that was bound to bring success to him. His memorials are evidence that he has also been a success as a warm, helpful and caring individual.
Good job, Brent! Love to Nancy and family. Aunt Gloria xo
I had the pleasure and good fortune of working with Brent to assemble an excellent team of scientists at Maxygen and Perseid Therapeutics. Brent’s passion for science, solving problems and hands on approach was truly remarkable and made him an outstanding mentor to all who worked with him. Brent serves as a shining example of someone who lived and loved life to the fullest extent.
Uncle Brent, You have left such a bright spot in so many lives. Although there was always many miles between your family and ours I've always know you would be there if we called! Thank you for being such a great example to all of us. You will be dearly missed! I can't thank you enough for the light you brought during my darkness. We ?? You! Dusty, Rena & Kids
Hi uncle Brent im sorry its taken so long to write u its been really hard to think of the right things to say to you. I miss u and all the larsens I wish I could have spent more time with u before u departed, but i want u to know all the times we spent together as a family really ment alot to me. All u and nancy have done for me got me through the roughest times in my life and I will never
Forget that. I really miss u I hope where u are now is a much more peaceful and rewarding place if anyone deserves it its u and one day we will see eachother again and hopefully get to play that game of golf we talked about. Say hi to everyone up there for me btw and thank you. I love u unc rest in peace.
Can't believe you left us, Brent. You were always so full of energy, you seemed indestructible. You hired me at Berlex and became my boss, mentor, and friend. I enjoyed our scientific discussions and speculations. Got inspired by you many times. My professional success is your success too. Skiing with you was another a wonderful experience. So smooth a skier. Miss you, man!
Brent and I went to high school together in Salt Lake City. We took science and math courses together, where Brent excelled. We were good friends. He was a radio station engineer during high school, a football star, a golf star, and of course a great skier. He taught me to ski at Alta, a place he loved, and I am still grateful. He was a born teacher, and very kind. I will miss him.
Brent was just about the best person you could ever hope to know. He was a mad scientist, a bionic man, a model of positivity that you couldn't get off the slopes if you tried (unless he had to refill his vodka cranberry camel pack!). I am a better person and forever grateful to have known him. We love you Brent!
I remember Brent from the early days of PDL where I started in 1995.
He was a very nice guy with a fun personality. Very smart scientist, too. I have a great memory of a company ski trip to Sugar Bowl. Brent is an advanced skier and I'm good, but I couldn't keep up. I especially enjoyed the screwdrivers he carried in his packpack. Yummy!
Brent's smile, charisma & warm personality will be missed by many! He was a caring father, loving husband and life long learner who shared his passion for life with all he met. His no fear attitude is a treasure and will push all who knew him to do great things. No risk no reward! An inspiration for knowing that you can start over, move, & build new roots and strong foundations anywhere.