Larry was born on June 16, 1927 to the union of Velma Kendall Doss and Raymond Doss. His father lost his life to pneumonia before Larry ever grew to know him, so he grew up fatherless in Cleveland’s projects and learned at an early age the devastating effects of lung cancer. Larry would be reminded of the painful toll of lung disease later in life when two dear friends succumbed to the disease. His mother prepared him for the world as best she could and instilled in him the courage, strength and drive to succeed. She reminded him of his uncanny ability for math and anything dealing with numbers. Nevertheless, Doss dropped out of high school. He joined the segregated Navy of the 1940’s where he acquired the needed discipline and motivation to later realize his potential.

With a new sense of direction, after being honorably discharged from the Navy, he obtained a GED high school equivalency degree. Larry then worked any job he could find to put himself first through American University, receiving a bachelor’s degree and much later in life he obtained a master’s degree from Nova University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He joined the Internal Revenue Service in 1949 as a result of President Harry Truman’s initiative to integrate the federal workforce. He proceeded to work his way to the top taking every management-training course made available to him. He arrived in Detroit in 1965 as a senior IRS regional manager and became very involved in community activities.

Larry joined the Federation for Self-Determination. The group was a coalition of diverse community leaders, (including militant leadership) formed as a response to the rebellion in Detroit in late 1962. Becoming a close friend of Congressman Charles Diggs, Larry helped to organize the Inner City Business Improvement Forum (ICBIF) and was its first president, leading its minority organization efforts.
At ICBIF, he helped usher in Detroit’s black entrepreneurial growth. Numerous business and nonprofits were launched or strengthened over the 20 years of the ICBIF’s existence. Among them are First Independence National Bank, three minority enterprise small business investment companies, ACCORD, Inc., Detroit’s Black United Fund, and the Economic Development Corporation – a predecessor of the Michigan Minority Business Development Council.

Several community activities exemplified Larry’s skills at strategic planning. He was outstanding at building cooperation among conflicting parties and leadership, getting the confidence and friendship of others and stimulating positive social change. Larry became the coordinator in the early 1970s of the Detroit School District de-centralization plan. He was also the second president of New Detroit, Inc., the nation’s first urban coalition bringing together business and labor professionals, institutions, African-Americans, Caucasians and Hispanics to address urban problems. Working closely with Mayor Coleman A. Young and his administration, Larry played a significant role in the strategy for an implementation of the integration of the Detroit Police Department in the 1970s.

He served as President of the Coleman A. Young Foundation, establishing a higher education scholarship and mentoring program to develop further scholars and leaders in Detroit and elsewhere.

Inspired by a new Detroit-sponsored trip to South Africa, Larry continued his involvement in developing positive race relations. He helped structure South Africa urban coalitions designed to bring together all cultures in meaningful dialogue about integration and economic development. He remained active in civil rights throughout his career.

In his role as chairman of Cooper’s & Lybrand’s State and Local Government Industry Program, Larry traveled extensively around the U.S. using his financial and organizational skills to help others. As a committed Christian and an exemplary churchman, Larry possessed extraordinary management skills, which he used tirelessly in efforts to strengthen and improve the management and fiscal operations of historically black denominations. In the 1980s, while he was a partner and principal consultant at Coopers & Lybrand, Larry provided a financial plan for the Congress of National Black Churches (CNBC), which enabled it to expand the organization’s community outreach utilizing sound financial practices. The Congress of National Black Churches (CNBC) represents eight (8) historically black denominations, comprised of 75,000 churches with 20 million members. Another one of Larry’s efforts in this area was to serve in the capacity of a consultant to the to the Black Church grants program of the Lilly Endowment, Inc. in Indianapolis, Indiana. He worked extensively with Black Denominations including the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.), Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (C.M.E.), Church of God in Christ Church (C.O.G.I.C.), and the Progress National Baptist Convention (P.N.B.C.). But one of Larry’s most endearing accomplishments was serving as a founding board member of the Institute of Church Administration and Management (ICAM) at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia where he played a vital role in the development of the training program that continues to seek to develop and improve the skills of black clergy and emerging religious leaders which are essential for efficient administration and management of Black Churches.

To describe Larry as an entrepreneur understates the case. He was president of Doss Ventures, Inc., a business development firm specializing in communications and transportation. He served as chairman of Metro Ventures, which owns and manages news and gift shop concessions at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in a joint venture with The Paradies Shops. In the field of education, Larry was the interim executive director of Schools of the 21st Century, which provided leadership in Detroit School reform efforts. As president of United Communications, Inc. he once owned a majority interest in FM radio stations in Jacksonville, Florida and Nashville, Tennessee. Larry was also manager/treasurer of Atwater Entertainment Associates, the initiator of Motor City Casino, partner in Greyhaven Estates and founding president of Detroit First.

His other public sector and non-profit activities were legion. Larry was the Executive Vice Chairman of the D.C. Commission on Criminal Justice, Vice Chairman of the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta, Treasurer of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Board of Directors of Africare, Board of Trustees of the University of Detroit, Finance Council of the Democratic National Committee, Director of the National Urban Coalition in Washington, D.C., Director of the United Way, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, Harper Hospital, American Natural Resources, Hudson Webber Foundation, and consultant to the Board of Trustees of Wayne County Community College where he evaluated the college’s management, finances and programs.

Larry’s contributions were prodigious. As a result of his impact on others, his influence will continue to be felt by his family, friends, Coleman A. Young mentorees and the multitude that will carry on his good deeds for the Lawrence P. Doss Scholarship Foundation.