Larry Ballonoff's Life
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Larry Ballonoff was born on June 4th, 1942 in Cleveland Ohio to Betty and Irv Ballonoff. He was the youngest of 3 children and looked up to his older siblings, Arnold and Judy. Larry enjoyed spending time with his grandfather, who led by example and was kind to all people, something Larry adopted as a way of life. In junior high and high school, his found enjoyment playing in the band. He was recruited by the drama teacher in the halls of his high school and he remembers “A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream” where his male character dressed up like a woman and his prosthetic breasts fell out of his shirt as he walked on stage. He graduated from Shaker Heights High School in 1960.
Larry went on to Carleton College in Northfield, MN and graduated in 1964. The summer after graduating, he took a road trip around the American and Canadian Rockies and explored multiple national parks. He started medical school at Johns Hopkins the following fall. Larry embraced both the science and art of medicine and became a physician who knew how to listen to patients and truly understand them as whole humans. He graduated medical school in 1968 and completed an internship at Cleveland Metropolitan Hospital.
After his internship, he was ordered to serve in the Army in Vietnam. During the last 2 weeks of internship, he met a spunky young woman named Margaret Black. Ten weeks later, they married and moved to San Antonio, TX so Larry could complete 8 weeks of basic training before he traveled to San Diego, CA to ship out for Vietnam. During basic training, Larry's father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and Larry received a last minute compassionate reassignment. Instead of traveling to Vietnam, the newly weds moved to St. Louis, MO where Larry conducted induction physicals for the military. There he faced the inequities of the Vietnam draft as he saw white, wealthy recruits who had letters from their family’s physicians excusing them from duty, and poor, men of color with conditions that could be diagnosed across the room who were being sent off to fight in the war.
After completing his service, Margaret and Larry moved to Denver, where Larry completed an internal medicine residency and endocrine fellowship at the University of Colorado. During this time, Margaret and Larry filled their lives with their first two dogs, Hans and Gretchen, and their two children, Ahna and Ari, and fell in love with Denver. From 1975-1981, Larry worked for the The Denver Clinic. He joined Kaiser in 1981 as an internist and endocrinologist. A few years later, he established Kaiser Colorado's Endocrinology department. His family grew as Ahna married Moe and Ari married Cris and he welcomed his grandchildren, Ellia, Linden, and Asher, and granddogs, Madison, Winter, Cruz, Luna, and Cima into his life. He retired from Kaiser in 2007.
His retirement was filled with dogs, grandchildren, volunteering, and adventures. Seeking a more gentle climate and the call of the ocean, in 2021, Margaret and Larry began to spend time during the winters in Laguna Woods, CA. They moved there permanently in September 2022 where they enjoyed the beach and the beautiful community. In his final days Larry said his only regret was not moving to Laguna Woods sooner.