Larry Cort, longtime Coupeville resident and former town planner, passed away at his home Oct. 28.

He was 60 years old.

Residents across Whidbey Island have been sharing memories and mourning the loss of the Cort, a man known for his mop of wild hair, cheerfulness and intelligence.

“I am stunned and thankful for the outpouring of love and respect,” his wife, Lisbeth Cort, said.

A celebration of Cort’s life will be held at a later date. His obituary appears on page 5.

Cort had been diagnosed with a form of brain cancer about a year ago. He retired as city administrator for Oak Harbor this fall.

Mayor Nancy Conard, newly elected at the time, hired Cort as the Coupeville town planner. They started the same day in 1995. She said she learned a great deal from him and later became close friends with him and Lisbeth.

“Our most productive years were when Larry was with the town,” she said.

She credited him with writing the town’s comprehensive plan, which has guided planning and development in the town for 20 years. He also was very successful in obtaining grants that brought a great deal of money to the town.

“He really understood the role of government in the community,” she said.

He later went to work as a senior planner in Oak Harbor, became the planner director in Langley then returned to Oak Harbor as a project specialist and finally as city administrator.

He believed government could be a force of good in people’s lives.

“His emphasis was always on service to the community,” Oak Harbor Councilman Rick Almberg said. “I don’t know how many times he would say that the most important thing to consider is what’s best for the community.”

Cort’s friends and colleagues said that one of his greatest strengths was his ability to communicate, which often meant translating complexities in regulations in a way everyone can understand.

Cort grew up on Whidbey and graduated from Oak Harbor High School in 1973. He attended college at the University of Washington and abroad, earned advanced degrees, worked as a cartographer and a town planner before returning to Whidbey.

In his private life, he was a man of culture. He loved traveling in Europe, fine wine and good food.

“He was a happy man who truly lived life to the fullest, did not wait until retirement to realize his dreams and never let a minute of vacation leave go to waste,” Lisbeth wrote in his obituary, which will be in Wednesday’s edition of the Whidbey News-Times.