Larry Street, activist for racial equality and social justice, dies at 71

Riverhead native Lawrence Street, educator and activist for social justice and racial equality, died Wednesday at age 71, after a year-long fight against pancreatic cancer. 

Street was the immediate past president of the Eastern Long Island Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, an organization he cared deeply about. He served as president of the NAACP’s Eastern Long Island Branch from January 2020 through January 2025, succeeding its longtime leader, Lucius Ware. 

“He was very passionate about equal rights. He wanted everyone to be treated fairly and equally,” said Keisha Washington-Dean, who served with Street on the board of the NAACP Eastern Long Island Branch for six years, including his term as its president.

“I’ve known Larry all my life,” Washington-Dean said in a phone interview Friday. “He was friends with my parents,” she said.

“His advocacy work was very special. Once he got started on a project he was always very passionate about getting the work done,” Washington-Dean said.

Former Congressman Tim Bishop became friends with Street  at Southampton College, where Bishop was a young administrator and Street was enrolled in the Higher Education Opportunity Program in the 1970s. “I believe he started there in 1974, part of our first group of students in HEOP,” Bishop said in a phone interview Friday. The friendship would last decades. 

“We became very close, very good friends,” Bishop said. “He was a very active student. When he came back to the East End after living in the Virgin Islands, we reconnected again,” he said. 

“Larry was somebody that cared about others and worked hard. He was always a joy to interact with,” Bishop said. “I thought the world of him.”

Street was known as someone who never hesitated to speak his mind and who was always willing to sit down and discuss differences. He showed up at Trump rallies in Riverhead wearing a John Lewis “Good Trouble” shirt and engaged Trump supporters in conversation. He was a regular at Black Lives Matter events and demonstrations in Riverhead and the surrounding area.

When Riverhead Town agreed to expand its Anti-Bias Task Force in 2017, in an effort to make the task force more inclusive and diverse in the aftermath of  racist comments on Facebook by a town official’s wife, Street stepped up to volunteer. 

Working for racial equality and justice was something very important to him. In addition to NAACP and the Riverhead Anti-Bias Task Force, he was a member of the East End Voters Coalition and Erase Racism. Street wrote about race issues in a column he authored for RiverheadLOCAL in 2018 and 2019. He did not shy away from tackling tough questions, like coping with “everyday hate” as a Black person. He wrote about the experiences of other people of color who grew up in Riverhead or came to town during the Great Migration and provided insights from his own experiences. Read Street’s columns.

Street was born in Southampton Hospital on June 18, 1954. He grew up in Riverhead in an area known as “the bottoms” near Middle Road and Horton Avenue. He came from humble beginnings, one of seven children born to  William Lee and Laura Frances Street. He recalled picking strawberries at local farms before school to earn lunch money. He had aspirations of attending college and becoming a teacher at a time when many barriers prevented Black youth from attaining such a goal. But he persisted, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees and pursuing a career in education.

Larry loved life, his sister Lauretta Street said. He loved music, dancing, and having a good time, especially with his family. He was also very spiritual and enjoyed the nourishment for his soul as well as the fellowship and friendship he found in church.

An activist and organizer at heart, Street even set out to organize a support group for people of color fighting cancer after his own diagnosis.

He faced death the way he lived his life: steadfast, with conviction and faith. 

A celebration of Street’s life is planned for Saturday, Jan. 24 at 11 a.m. at First Baptist Church of Bridgehampton. 

Read Lawrence Street’s full obituary.