Paul B. Larsen passed away at his home on Bainbridge Island, Washington on May 26, 2025 at age 94. Born in Osted, Denmark on January 7, 1931, he grew up under the German Occupation during WWII. Determined to escape the hardscrabble farming life, he pursued education- first at Latin School in Roskilde, then at Wilmington College and the University of Cincinnati in Ohio.

During a summer job at Yellowstone National Park, he fell in love with University of Washington student Judith Rankin. Soon, Paul won her heart by rescuing people trapped in an earthquake at Old Faithful Lodge. They married and had daughter Astrid, in Anchorage, AK. In Montreal, Paul attended the first Space Law program at McGill University and had daughter Heidi. Fellowships at the von Humbolt Foundation, and degrees from New York University and Yale soon followed.

As a professor of law at Southern Methodist University, he started their Air & Space Law program. While teaching at Georgetown Law Center, he negotiated international treaties at the Department of Transportation. Retiring to Bainbridge Island, he authored more than 70 articles and textbooks on the peaceful uses of outer space. Multi-lingual, he enjoyed traveling and reading in many languages.

He is missed by his family, his Agate Passage Quaker community and his colleagues in Space Law all over the world. His determination and vision brought him from a small farm in Denmark to advising the world on the peaceful uses of outer space.