Larry Agran's Biography

Council member Larry Agran graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California at Berkeley in 1966, majoring in both History and Economics. In 1969, he graduated with honors from the Harvard Law School, where he specialized in public interest law. He served as Legal Counsel to California State Senate Committee on Health and Welfare and taught legislation and public policy at the UCLA School of Law and at UC Irvine’s Graduate School of Management.

Larry Agran first served on the Irvine City Council from 1978 to 1990, including six years as Mayor. Under his leadership, Irvine received national recognition for its pioneering programs in child care, affordable housing, recycling and open space preservation. Under his leadership, the citizens of Irvine passed the historic 1988 Open Space Agreement, permanently preserving about 16,000 acres of park and open space lands for the benefit and enjoyment of Irvine residents.

While a private citizen in the 1990’s, Larry Agran led a number of non-profit organizations: the Local Elected Officials Project; the Center for Innovative Diplomacy; and CityVote. As the founder and volunteer chair of Project ’99, Larry Agran was a leading advocate to stop the El Toro Airport and promote creation of the Orange County Great Park at the former Marine Corps Base at El Toro.

After his re-election to the Irvine City Council in 1998, Larry Agran led the charge to marshal whatever resources necessary to fight the County’s plan to turn MCAS El Toro into a massive international airport. His leadership on this effort helped him win an easy victory in his 2000 race for Mayor, and once elected he began work to draft a countywide initiative to stop the airport. In March of 2002, Measure W was passed by more that 58% of Orange County voters — and the Great Park vision began to evolve.

As Mayor, Larry Agran worked with the federal government to ensure that their interests in auctioning the El Toro base did not compromise the plans to create the Orange County Great Park — the first great metropolitan park of the 21st century — here in the heart of Orange County. As a result, Lennar Corporation who purchased the base from the federal government for $649.5 million was required to dedicate 1,347 acres of land for the Orange County Great Park — that’s twice the size of New York’s Central Park!

No public official in Irvine’s history has earned the reputation that Larry Agran has as a staunch advocate for the public interest. A tireless worker, he is dedicated to ensuring that public safety, innovative planning, integrated transportation solutions, civic involvement and environmental stewardship remain key “quality of life” priorities in the City of Irvine.

Larry Agran and his wife, Phyllis have a grown son Ken, a daughter-in-law Kerrie and a granddaughter Morgan.