Gaylen N. Larson

Gaylen Nevoy Larson was born in Sandwich, IL on January 24, 1940, to Nevoy and Genevieve Larson.  He passed away peacefully on June 2, 2019, after a long and brave struggle with Parkinson's Disease.

Gaylen met Joanne (Matthew) Larson while both were involved in the Illinois 4-H program. They married while attending Northern Illinois University.  Gaylen was a graduate of the school’s accounting program and went on to become widely recognized as one of the financial industry's preeminent professionals.

He was a partner at Deloitte, Haskins & Sells (Deloitte & Touche) for almost 20 years, rose to the position of Group Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer at Household International, and was a director at Coopers & Lybrand. He also served for 5 years as a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).

Gaylen was inducted into the Financial Executives International (FEI) Hall of Fame and was honored with multiple other awards, including: NIU's College of Business 50th Anniversary Golden Alumnus award, the Distinguished Alumnus award of Northern Illinois University, the Distinguished Alumnus award of NIU College of Business, the Industry Accountant of the Year from National Beta Alpha Psi, the Distinguished Service Award from FEI, and the Braden Award from Case Western Reserve University.

A 46-year resident of Barrington, Gaylen and Joanne have also lived in Moline (IL), Mt. Prospect (IL), Wilton (CT), and Austin (TX).

Since childhood, Gaylen was passionate about fishing, which took him from the Arctic Circle to the Bahamas. He also enjoyed camping with his family and took annual trips across the US and Canada (usually fishing along the way). As a member of Barrington Hills Country Club, Gaylen golfed and shot skeet whenever he could.

Gaylen was proud to have been involved with the Gateway Foundation, which helps treat and counsel drug and alcohol addicts through specialized programs. Gaylen and Joanne also remained involved with Northern Illinois University, where they annually sponsor an accountancy professor and have set up several student scholarships.

As CEO of Gaylen's Family Farms, he continued to manage several hundred acres of farmland in DeKalb county.

He is survived by his wife Joanne; his children Mark (Annette), Andrea, and Paul (Heather); his grandchildren Kennedy, Connor, Cooper, and Morgan; and his sister Loretta (Tom) Harris, and brother Curtis (Judy).  He is preceded in death by his parents and his sister (Lorene).

Visitation will be 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm Sunday June 9, 2019 at Davenport Funeral Home in Barrington.  A service will be held at the Presbyterian Church of Barrington at 10:00 am on Monday June 10, 2019.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation at www.michaeljfox.org.