Obituary of A. Lawrence "Larry" Kolz

A. Lawrence "Larry" Kolz of Colorado Springs, Colorado, passed on August 1, 2021.He was the son of Arvin A. Kolz and Violet F. Kolz of Durango, Colorado, and he grew up on his grandparents' ranch north of Durango, Colorado.Larry earned his B.S. and M.S. Degrees in Electrical Engineering from Colorado State University (1958) and the University of Arizona (1960).He was married to Judy Woods Kolz and was the father of Matthew L. Kolz (Colorado Springs, Colorado) who is married to Arlene Tsang Kolz. His grandchildren are Timothy Lawrence Kolz and Bethany Hannah Kolz.Larry worked in the aerospace industry on radar and missile guidance systems for eleven years. He then joined the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, and later the U.S. Department of Agriculture where he spent twenty-eight years directing electrical related research for the Denver Wildlife Research Center. His position was unique, serving as the project engineer for the only government laboratory dedicated to the development of electronic instrumentation for fish and wildlife. In this capacity, he developed specialized transmitters under the Endangered Species Program for radio tracking a variety of mammals, birds, and reptiles. Larry also worked under the auspices of NASA to develop the first satellite tracking system for polar bears and loggerhead sea turtles. In 1988, he was named the USDA Engineer of the Year. Larry was a telemetry instructor all over the world, including Sweden, Italy, Morocco, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Although electronic instrumentation was his primary work at the Center, he liked to say that electrical fishing was his avocation. He taught the principles of "electrofishing" to nearly two-thousand biologists at over sixty short courses. He was known nationally and internationally for his development of Power Transfer Theory; it has become the theoretical foundation for this method that is widely used by fisheries biologists worldwide.The family wishes to extend their gratitude to many friends and neighbors, members of First Congregational Church, and Abode Hospice.