Commerce Professor Emeritus Laurence “Larry” Craven Pettit Jr. passed away at the age of 87 on Sept. 8, 2024, after a brief illness. A central figure at the McIntire School for decades, Pettit was responsible for launching the highly influential GDP course in the mid-1970s, a defining class for generations of McIntire students whom he taught in the course for more than 30 years; his efforts in bolstering and broadening the Finance program and its recruiting opportunities for students proved instrumental in helping McIntire earn international prestige for its innovative business programs.
Born in Front Royal, VA, on Dec. 6, 1936, to Laurence and Virginia Corder Pettit, he would graduate from Warren County High School in his hometown in 1955. Pettit then continued his education at Virginia Tech, where he earned his B.S. and M.S., before starting his career as a faculty member at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette). Pettit later came to Grounds to complete his doctorate at UVA’s Darden School of Business before joining McIntire in 1968 to teach Corporate Finance and Quantitative Methods.
During his tenure at McIntire, he became the chief architect behind what would come to strengthen and innovate the Finance curriculum, particularly through the GDP course, and raise the profile of the Commerce School. Reflecting on GDP in 2021, Pettit revealed that he was motivated to satisfy a pair of what he saw as two critical needs for his students: ensuring their career readiness with a wholly new type of analytical course and providing more direct recruitment connections to robust employment opportunities with prestigious Wall Street firms. He would meet these goals and surpass them, leading to excellent results that indelibly shaped McIntire and created innumerable opportunities for its students. All told, Pettit taught at the Commerce School for nearly 40 years, ultimately retiring in 2007, but his legacy will impact its students far into the future.
“The greatness of the McIntire School of Commerce, as measured by the success of its students, can be attributed to a small group of visionary faculty. There was no greater member of that group than Professor Lawrence ‘Larry’ Pettit,” says Ramon W. Breeden, Sr. Research Professor of Commerce Emeritus Bob Kemp, who worked closely with Pettit and took over the GDP course from him in 1980.
Kemp praises his fellow Commerce faculty member for his programmatic accomplishments and ability to make an outsized positive impact on others through education: “He and his colleagues created a renowned school of business by focusing on their students. They developed a world-class curriculum, built ties with businesses throughout the world, and encouraged all to make learning a way of life. Professor Pettit was at the heart of McIntire’s greatness, particularly in the Finance area. He encouraged his students and colleagues to question all, think strategically, dream without limits, and work hard to make their world a better place.”
Todd Eminent Professor of Commerce George Overstreet, with whom Pettit and Kemp co-authored the seminal “A Professional Approach to Building an Undergraduate Finance Program: The McIntire Experience” for the Financial Education Association in 1986, reiterated Kemp’s assessment about Pettit’s creative innovations. Overstreet also credits Pettit with his support in bringing him in to teach at the University of Virginia.
“I would probably not have ended up at McIntire without his advice and support; he arranged my visiting professorship in the spring of 1980, teaching the Harvard corporate finance cases,” he says. Lauding Pettit’s curriculum innovation based on many interviews with banking professionals, Overstreet remembers that “the Finance area, certainly in that era, became the heartbeat of the School. It was beyond a wonderful experience.” Overstreet adds that he—along with Professors Kemp, Mike Atchison, Rich DeMong, Felicia Marston, and Mark White—counted themselves proud to be part of “Larry’s club dedicated to turning out the best Finance students on the planet.”
Marston says that in addition to Pettit’s direct positive influence on decades of students and future business leaders, he was pivotal in mentoring her and her aforementioned peers who represented the generation of McIntire faculty that followed him, thereby ensuring a legacy that lives on at the Commerce School. “He was a huge champion of his colleagues and had a profound effect on my own teaching. To this day, I often think of Larry when I am designing a new course or preparing to teach a case, and I am still learning the ingenuity in his methods,” she says. “Beyond his professional impact, he was a great friend to all of us, and his sense of humor and wise counsel will be sorely missed.”
White, who co-taught GDP with Pettit, calls him “a literal giant in the McIntire community,” noting that his role in shaping the direction of the Commerce School’s Finance curriculum in the latter part of the 20th century cannot be underestimated. “He engaged with practitioners in the National Banking School, partnered with alumni to evaluate student work in the GDP course, and educated a generation of critical thinkers with his leadership and practice of the case method of teaching,” says White. “He will be remembered as a gifted teacher, an inspiring mentor, and an exceptionally supportive colleague.”
In addition to his revered teaching career, for which he was honored as a member of UVA’s prestigious Raven Society, Pettit was a banking specialist who served as a consultant to international, major American, and community banks. He helped develop the National Banking School for the AICPA in 1979, served on the faculty of the American Banking Association Stonier School and Consumer Bankers Association Graduate School of Retail Bank Management, and led the commercial lending continuing education program (the School of Bank Management) for the Virginia Bankers Association.
Pettit’s expertise led to his participation in the design and teaching of a number of credit and corporate lending seminars for international, national, and regional banks and insurance companies. He also organized and led strategic planning and profit planning for both community and regional financial institutions. Perhaps most notable are the many generations of students and graduates Pettit mentored and the innumerable jobs he helped to identify and secure for his students.
Pettit will be remembered by a countless number of McIntire graduates and faculty members for his care and vision. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Anna Katherine “Kitty” Robinson Pettit; his children, Lauren Corder Pettit Harper (Allen) and Laurence C. Pettit III (Susan); and four grandchildren, Taylor Harper (Andrea), Witt Harper (Rebecca), Madeline Pettit-Jackson (Merric), and Alicia Katherine Pettit. He is also survived by four great-grandchildren, a special sister-in-law, Cindy Parker, and four nephews.
A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 19, at 11 a.m. at Meadows Presbyterian Church, 2200 Angus Rd., Charlottesville, VA 22901.