Larry Martin

Lawrence “Larry” Martin, 85, of Sarasota, Florida, formerly of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, passed away on September 20, 2026, in Sarasota.

Larry was born on July 28, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York, to Charles and Theresa Martin. Brooklyn was more than simply where he was born. It was home. He grew up in Bay Ridge, spending his summers at Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey, a place that remained part of his boyhood memories. He would spend most of his life in Bay Ridge, eventually raising his own family only a few blocks from where he and his wife, Joan, had grown up themselves.

Larry served in the United States Army from 1963 to 1965, attaining the rank of E-3 while stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. He qualified as a sharpshooter with the rifle and received the Good Conduct Medal. His military service was one expression of a patriotism that remained an important part of his life. He loved his country and took particular pride in flying the American flag—first from the window of his Brooklyn home and, after moving to Sarasota, in front of the home he and Joan made there.

As a young man, Larry worked for The New York Times and was a member of the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers’ Union. He later began the career of which he was enormously proud, spending approximately 30 years with the telephone company through its AT&T, NYNEX and Verizon years. He worked as a splicer, climbing poles and working in manholes beneath the streets of New York City, before eventually finishing his career in Verizon’s test bureau on Wall Street. He never forgot the work, the people he worked beside, or what those 30 years meant to him.

On December 11, 1966, Larry married Joan Solimando at Our Lady of Angels Church in Brooklyn. They built their life together in Bay Ridge, rarely straying more than a few blocks from the neighborhood that had shaped them both. They were married nearly 60 years.

In 2008, Larry and Joan left Brooklyn for Sarasota, beginning a new chapter while carrying New York with them. Some loyalties, after all, were never negotiable. Larry loved the New York Yankees and took great satisfaction in having witnessed more than his share of championships. For a man who appreciated winning, the Yankees gave him plenty of material.

Above all, Larry was proud of his family.

He is survived by his wife, Joan (Solimando) Martin; his daughter, Julie Martin Bye, and her husband, Frank Bye, of Florida; his son Larry Martin and his wife, Trish Martin, of Massachusetts; and his son Chris Martin and his wife, Ola Martin, of Florida.

He is also survived by his grandchildren Tyler Martin, Brooke Martin, Charlie Martin, Andy Martin and Joey Martin; his sister, Edna (Martin) Yanni; and his nephews Stephen Yanni and his wife Angela Yanni and their daughter Elizabeth, Joseph Yanni and Michael Solimando.

He was predeceased by his brother-in-law, Frank Solimando.

Those who knew Larry will remember a man deeply connected to the places, institutions and people that shaped his life: Brooklyn, his years of service, his work, the Yankees, his flag, and most of all his family. He carried those loyalties seriously. Nearly 60 years of marriage, three children, five grandchildren, a long career and a life stretching from the streets of Bay Ridge to Sarasota left him with much to be proud of—and left those who loved him with much to remember.

Larry’s family invites those who knew him to remember him in the way that seems most fitting: with affection, with a good story, and perhaps with an American flag flying nearby.