Laurence B. Knapp Jr., retired pilot, family man

Laurence “Larry” B. Knapp Jr., 90, passed away Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. He is survived by his children, Susan McClements (Bill), Rebecca Adams (Chris) and Nancy Piccione (Anthony), his eight grandchildren, Will M. (Liz), Annie (Seth), Becky (Ben), Will A., Caroline, Christopher, Anna and Leslie; his sister, Adele Hudson Trout; his brother-in-law, Jack Agnew (Carolyn); and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his wife, Eleanor; his daughter, Gwen; and his brother, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Ronald Knapp. 

Larry was born in Lewes in 1935 to Rebecca Kearney Knapp and Laurence Bernard Knapp. He grew up alongside his older brother, Ronnie, who called him Brud, and his younger sister, Adele, whom he called Sis (and occasionally the Pest, as she fondly recalled). He graduated from Lewes High School, where he played football, serving as co-captain with the late Tom Marshall in 1951 when the team went undefeated. 

After high school, Larry served proudly in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1952–55, including a tour of duty in Korea. Upon returning from Korea, he spent a semester at Nottingham Academy as a post-graduate student, planning to matriculate at University of Delaware. Before his second semester at Nottingham, Larry learned that he had been commissioned to become a Delaware Bay and River pilot. He began an apprenticeship as a pilot on the Delaware Bay and River, an occupation in which he thrived for more than 45 years. 

In addition to his work on the Delaware Bay and River, Larry worked for decades as a docking pilot starting in 1967, when Capt. Harry Rowland, owner of Wilmington Tug and a fellow Delaware Bay and River pilot, selected him to help with docking and sailing ocean-going vessels at the Port of Wilmington. Larry was both immensely proud of his career and understated in his discussions about it. He loved the complex maneuvers involved in pilotage and docking: He spent many hours at his makeshift desk in the family’s first home on White Oak Road, studying intricate charts of the Delaware Bay and Delaware River to prepare for licensing exams to expand on the mastery of his craft.

After retiring as a Delaware Bay and River pilot, Larry traveled to Baltimore weekly for many years to volunteer alongside those restoring and sailing the U.S.S. John W. Brown, a World War II liberty ship. He treasured the friendships he made in Baltimore on the Brown, as he called it. Among his many professional accomplishments, Larry was inducted into the Delaware Maritime Hall of Fame in 2013 and received several commendations from the Delaware Legislature for his extraordinary work as a pilot. 

Larry loved his work and his family; if he wasn’t referring to himself as a Lewes farm boy, he called himself the luckiest guy in the world. His family called him Hon, Dad, Grampy, and when he got a little too serious, Capt. Knapp. Although work often stole him away at odd hours, he maintained that he could never imagine another career than the one he pursued alongside the most talented mariners on the East Coast. 

He met his future wife and the love of his life, Eleanor, at the wedding of fellow pilot James “Jimmy” Maloney. Eleanor Agnew said she knew as soon as she met Larry that she would marry him. They were married Feb. 11, 1961, and welcomed their first daughter, Gwen, in November of that same year. Another daughter, Susan, followed in 1962, and twin daughters Rebecca and Nancy completed the family in 1966.

Much of Larry’s vacation time was spent in the Pocono Mountains, where he and Eleanor rented summer cottages with their friends Barbara and Joe Julian. The couple’s combined 10 children enjoyed the freedom of canoeing, sailing, swimming, learning to water ski, and occasionally disappearing for hours to explore the islands and rock formations of Lake Wallenpaupack. Larry would return to Wilmington to take up his piloting and docking work, and then drive back to the Poconos for weekend family time, which included chasing bats out of cottages, rescuing novice sailors, and escapist grown-up dinners at the local diner, inauspiciously named ‘The Hemlock House.’

Larry’s lifelong motto was, Family is everything. He lived that to the very end, spending many summers on the water with his devoted family in Lewes, Maine, and Cape Cod. There he reveled in the company of his daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, as well as his former companion, Sonja Exley. Grampy listened intently and asked good questions to better understand what they were all up to in school, work, and their personal lives. He also tried valiantly to learn their strange, new party games, like Salad Bowl and Code Names. He was always a good sport, a great dad, a loyal friend, the best grampy, and, above all, a very fine man.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 22, at Lewes Yacht Club, Lewes, with a reception to follow.

Contributions in Larry’s memory may be made to the U.S.S. John W. Brown, Project Liberty Ship Inc., P.O. Box 25846, Highlandtown Station, Baltimore, MD 21224, ssjohnwbrown.org/fund-raiser.