Samuel Runyan Larimore

Monday, January 15, 2018

Mr. Samuel Runyan Larimore passed away early on the morning of Saturday January 6, 2018 at Baptist Hospital in Little Rock. He was 85 years old.

Sam was born in Newport on June 5, 1932 to Samuel and Grace Larimore. He grew up on the family farm and for several years lived in the Panama Canal Zone where his father worked for the Navy as a carpenter. Sam graduated Newport High School in 1951 and attended Arkansas State University in Jonesboro for two years, where he joined the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. After university, he held various jobs, ranging from managing a gas station to partnering in ownership of a music store. In 1957, he moved to Blytheville to manage the Blytheville Plant Food Company. In October 1959, he married Sara (nee) Child. Gulf Oil Corporation bought the Blytheville Plant Food Company and Sam was promoted to regional manager in the Gulf Oil organization and moved to Henderson, Kentucky, in 1967. While in Henderson, he attended night courses for business management and continued to learn more about farm management from the Gulf Oil Corporation. In 1970, he returned to Blytheville to purchase the Blytheville Plant Food Company from Gulf Oil and opened Larimore Crop Supply. While running the company, he innovated fertilizer application and the use of seed cleaning to improve crop efficiency and yield production. These advancements in farming gained him the nickname Bull Dog Sam from the Agrico Corporation for the tenacity he showed with planning and formulas. In 1994, he retired and sold the company. He moved first to Orange Beach, Alabama and then to Little Rock where he lived since 2007.

Sam was instrumental in building the Republican Party in Mississippi County in the 1960’s and helped elect Winthrop Rockefeller the first Republican Governor of Arkansas since reconstruction. He was also a member of the Jaycees and Rotary Club chapters of Blytheville. Sam enjoyed the outdoors and was an avid hunter, fisherman and often went on short hikes in the woods.

Sam is survived by his wife Sara; three children, Dr. Laura Williams (Roger Williams), Greg and Chris (Aki); and four grandchildren, Matthew Williams, Ethan Williams, Hana Larimore and Noah Larimore.

A simple graveside service was held in Blytheville attended by his family. All services were private. Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.cobbfuneralhome.com.