Larry Dyer, Ph.D., (1951-2019) influenced the lives of many students in his 17 years with the UMKC School of Social Work.
An assistant teaching professor in the Department of Social Work in the College of Arts and Sciences, Dyer had been a member of the social work faculty since 2002. He was the lead instructor for the department’s courses on advanced social work practice and psychopathology. Dyer also served two years as the master of social work program director and was most recently the Master of Social Work Student Organization faculty advisor. He kept his clinical social work skills honed by providing licensed clinical social work supervision and worked in a dialectical behavior therapy setting in Kansas City.
Dyer played a part in educating more than 1,000 master of social work students. His sister-in-law, Bert Monroe Dyer, said she was touched by the fact that both the hospital social worker and the daughter of one of the nursing staff involved in his case were graduates of the UMKC School of Social Work, had attended classes with Dyer and expressed their affection and gratitude for having known him.
Dyer is survived by his brother, Charles Dyer, a tenured law professor at UMKC from 1977 through 1987; his sister-in-law Bert; his adult children, Johnny and Alicen; and three grandchildren. His husband of 30 years, Rick Henrichs, preceded him in death.
Dyer fostered dogs for military service personnel deployed on active duty through “Dogs on Deployment.”
The social work faculty and the Master of Social Work Student Organization are coordinating with the family and friends of Dyer for a remembrance from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 13, at the UMKC Student Union, Room 302.