Raised in Southern California, Larry Agran was educated in Los Angeles public schools before attending UCLA and UC Berkeley.  He graduated Phi Beta Kappa, earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and U.S. History.  It was at UC Berkeley in 1964 — in Civil Rights demonstrations and as participants in the Free Speech Movement — that Larry met Phyllis Friedman.  The two married in 1966.

After completing his military service, Larry attended Harvard Law School, where he specialized in public interest law, graduating with honors in 1969, while Phyllis earned two Masters Degrees — the first in Biology at Boston University, and then a Masters Degree in Public Health at Harvard University.

After graduation, Larry and Phyllis returned to California to begin their careers in public service — Phyllis in advancing important public health projects in the Sacramento area, and Larry as Chief Legal Counsel for the California State Senate Health & Welfare Committee.

After welcoming their son Kenneth in 1970, the three-member Agran family moved to Irvine in 1973 when Phyllis, joined by other women, managed to break the gender barrier that had intentionally limited the admission of women to the UCI School of Medicine.

Phyllis went on to have a distinguished academic career, becoming a full Professor of Pediatric Medicine and now a UCI Professor Emeritus, while also continuing to serve the community as a practicing pediatric gastroenterologist.  She was honored by the American Academy of Pediatrics (Orange County Chapter) as the “2020 Physician of the Year.”  And, in 2024, Phyllis was named “Physician of the Year” by the Orange County Medical Association.

Larry and Phyllis continue to live in the same modest University Park home they purchased in 1976.

Their son Ken and daughter-in-law Kerrie reside in West Irvine with their two children (Larry and Phyllis’s grandchildren), Morgan and Benjamin.

In 1978, Larry was elected to the Irvine City Council — on his first run for public office.  He has served for more than 20 years, including 10 years as Mayor of Irvine.

Larry’s achievements have literally changed the face and landscape of Irvine, forever!  Larry gained support for pioneering policies to strengthen the Master Plan for the City of Irvine by instituting growth control policies, adding affordable housing policies, and winning public approval of a sweeping Open Space Preservation plan — setting aside more than 10,000 acres of wilderness in a natural open space preserve, surrounding the City, that will remain forever free of development.

In 1988, as Irvine’s first directly elected Mayor, Larry won City Council approval of Orange County’s first Human Rights Ordinance — barring discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations on the basis of race, sex, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation.  In 1989, Larry managed to win City Council approval of the nation’s first comprehensive municipal ordinance — later copied by other cities, states, and national governments — to eliminate chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-depleting chemicals that were destroying the Earth’s protective ozone layer.  In 1990, the City of Irvine received a United Nations award for its contributions to global environmental protection.  Irvine also won national attention for the City’s pioneering programs in child care and recycling.

After an 8-year hiatus, Larry returned to the City Council in 1998, and two years later was elected Mayor once again, serving from 2000-2004.  During that time, Larry led the effort to bring diversity & the nation’s highest standards to our Police Department, to pass the City’s Living Wage Ordinance, and to defeat the Orange County Supervisors’ proposed international airport at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

In 2020, Irvine voters sent Larry back to the City Council. For two years, Larry was the only member of the City Council to advocate aggressive legal action on behalf of the City’s residents to shut down Irvine’s largest industrial polluter. Through his close work with residents, the City has now closed the dangerous asphalt plant and is restoring the land to its natural form. In its place will be a beautiful 700-acre “Gateway Preserve” that will provide new recreational and environmental opportunities to connect Irvine residents to tens of thousands of acres of open space.

In 2022, Larry won re-election to the Council as the top vote-getter. He authored the successful 2024 ballot measure, ensuring that every Irvine neighborhood is represented on the City Council.

Larry was elected Mayor of Irvine in 2024. In 2025, the Council adopted Larry’s Urban Forest Master Plan which calls for planting tens of thousands of new trees throughout Irvine to cool the City, clean our air, and help us reach our Climate Action goals. He also worked to expand the City’s non-polluting shuttle bus service, and established new school bus service to help ease traffic around our local Irvine schools.

Larry continues to fight for the City’s taxpayers and electricity ratepayers. He has repeatedly urged the City to get out of the embattled Orange County Power Authority (OCPA), which now charges Irvine customers the highest rates in all of Orange County while providing “dirty” electricity generated from fossil fuels.

In 2026, Irvine was ranked the safest city in America, the fourth greenest city in the nation, and the third best city in America to raise a family. In addition, the Trust for Public Land ranked Irvine’s park system as the best in California (and second best in the entire nation).

Larry is determined to return good planning and good government to Irvine — a government, as Abraham Lincoln said more than 150 years ago, “of the People, by the People, for the People.”