Dear DGS colleagues and friends:
It is with great sorrow that we share the news of the passing of Larry Brandt on Monday August 1, 2016.
Larry originally established the “Digital Government research program” within NSF while serving as a NSF program director, and he supported many digital government research projects. With his colleague and dear friend at NSF, Valerie Gregg, he was a staunch supporter of advancing the digitization of government agencies, and of improving government agencies through technology, pursuing these goals for more than a decade, starting in the early 2000s.
Larry's efforts led to fostering the interdisciplinary nature of digital government research, guiding the technology researchers to work closely with the social science experts to address not only the technical challenges but also the human issues in government. His support also engendered international collaborations and led to the formation of the Digital Government Society, an international organization of leading researchers in digital government. 
We will cherish his memory and continue to work on realizing his vision to advance Digital Government research and practice. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, his children and his extended family. We want to express our sincere gratitude to Larry for what he has done for our community and we will remember him forever as a trail blazer.The following links show the coverage of Larry's Digital Government program:
- Making a Digital Government, 2002,http://articles.latimes.com/2002/may/20/business/fi-techqa20
- Basic versus Applied Reserach: A challenge for dg.o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLztx5VwIxc
- Melvyn Ciment, A personal history of the NSF digital government program, CACM Vol 46, No 1, Jan 2003.
