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Burning Man Founder Larry Harvey Dies At 70

"Burners" mourn the free-thinking philosopher king of their pagan desert gathering.

Larry Harvey, who co-founded what evolved into the nation’s most outlandish anti-establishment art, music and exhibitionist extravaganza ― the Burning Man festival ― died Saturday at a San Francisco hospital. He was 70 and had suffered stroke earlier this month.

His death was announced on the Burning Man website, which hailed Harvey as “our founder, friend and original instigator.”

Harvey and friend Jerry James kicked off the one-of-a-kind festival 32 years ago when they burned a man in effigy on San Francisco’s Baker Beach to mark the summer solstice. Last year, some 70,000 people celebrated what has become the week-long “burner” bacchanalia in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert.

A giant five-story-tall wooden sculpture of a man is burned each year for the finale, but anything goes until then, including wild clothes (or no clothes), and even wilder antics and art.

At the time of his death, Harvey was board president and chief “philosophic officer” of the nonprofit Burning Man Project that has an annual budget of some $30 million.

A post shared by Burning Man (@burningman) on

Harvey was born on Jan. 11, 1948, and adopted by a farming family in Portland, Oregon. He served in the Army and moved to San Francisco after he “transformed to a hipster dandy in 1968,” his brother, Stewart Harvey, recalled.

He worked at a variety of odd jobs and became enmeshed in the city’s community of artists. He was a “philosopher, a visionary, a wit, a writer, an inspiration, an instigator, a mentor, and at one point a taxi driver and a bike messenger,” wrote Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell.

His “great gift” was “seeing possibilities... then possessing the eloquence to persuade others to come join in and make it all happen,” said Stewart Harvey.

Stewart was with Larry when he “first laid eyes on the playa” in 1990 that later that year was to become the desert home of Burning Man. “It fired up his imagination,” Stewart said. “There is something about this ancient and vast landscape that tempts us to dream large, and my brother understood that... Here at last was a canvas large enough and blank enough to accommodate his most outrageous imaginings.”

Burning Man will go on this year again in August, organizers vowed. “Larry would be the first to say this isn’t an ending, but the start of a new chapter, and we all have a hand in where we go from here,” Goodell said.

Added his longtime friend Stuart Mangrum: “As he would have wished it, let us always Burn the Man.”

Along with his brother, Harvey is survived by a son, Tristan, a nephew, Bryan, and an international community of devoted burners.

Thank u #LarryHarvey. Nothing else like #BurningMan on this planet (or any other.) https://t.co/5RZ6cYGSCN

— Ben Austin (@iambenaustin) April 29, 2018

RIP free thinker. pic.twitter.com/UQLBh2WtFV

— Mel Asks (@mel_asks) April 28, 2018

Somehow this shadow wave in the dust seemed like the right pic to say good bye to #BurningMan founder #LarryHarvey. Thank you Larry. Your spirit will live on in the hearts of #burners everywhere. #industwetrust #playalife #BlackRockCity #KSF pic.twitter.com/5TteZJuUSr

— Don Andrews (@DonAndrewsRadio) April 29, 2018

Rest in Playa, weird old Uncle Larry, King of the Freaks.

— This is why we can't have nice things... (@EvaDestrction) April 28, 2018

Larry you were a game changer in our lives. Fly high, brother. You are loved.

— Integratron (@Integratron1) April 29, 2018

In memory of Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey... pic.twitter.com/C6BeUyt2yt

— Dave Vescio (@DaveVescio) April 29, 2018

Burn On Papa Burn!!!! Sending you all the love ...

— ArtIsMobilUs (@ArtIsMobilUs) April 29, 2018

Rest In Peace bright light.

— Laura Maguire (@LauraMDMaguire) April 28, 2018

Oh, wow. He was a great kook.

— trace (@agentmule) April 29, 2018

RIP Larry, thank you for your vision #larryharvey pic.twitter.com/ynNjjV08Si

— Eric Limon (@mrorange002) April 29, 2018

You may not have understood that your afterlife would be based in the seeds you planted in all of our hearts. Your life on Earth may have ended but your legacy lives on through us. Thank you for your vision. Rest in Peace #LarryHarvey

— Mary Carey (@twittleteedee) April 29, 2018

A sad day for Burners everywhere....RIP to the OG instigator #LarryHarvey 🔥🙏🏼 Burning Man is such a special place and our world is dimmer for having lost one of its integral creators. But his light will always shine through all of the people who’ve been touched by his magic✨

— Courtz 🔮 (@courtfershort) April 29, 2018

And in the space where the counter-culture and creative intelligences feed off each other, we’ve just lost another messiah. As far as such greats go, #LarryHarvey has sparked off a movement that will not be contained. #BurningMan https://t.co/hwbDYQ4BV9

— aWryEye (@insidevikshed) April 29, 2018
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