Larry Connor (January 7, 1950) is an American real estate and technology business person, as well as a

space tourist Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism. During the period from 2001 to 2009, seven space tourists made eight s ...

. Connor is the head of the Connor Group, a

real estate investment Real estate investing involves the purchase, management and sale or rental of real estate for profit. Someone who actively or passively invests in real estate is called a real estate entrepreneur or a real estate investor. Some investors actively ...

firm located in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater ...

Education

Born in 1950 in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Ci ...

, Connor graduated summa cum laude in 1972 from

Ohio University Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subsequ ...

Athens, Ohio Athens is a city and the county seat of Athens County, Ohio. The population was 23,849 at the 2020 census. Located along the Hocking River within Appalachian Ohio about southeast of Columbus, Athens is best known as the home of Ohio Universit ...

. Connor was a member of ''Who’s Who of College Students'' and was one of 22 students out of a class of 4,500 undergraduates selected to the Ohio University J Club.

Career

From 1982 to 1990, Connor owned Orlando Computer Corp. The company had operations in central Florida and Cincinnati, OH, providing hardware and software to businesses. The Connor Group, a real estate investment firm, was founded as Connor, Murphy & Buhrman in 1992. Connor bought out his partners and established the Connor Group in 2003. Over the next 18 years, the Connor Group grew from $100 million in assets to $3.5 billion. Connor co-founded Heartland Regional Power in 2004. First Billing Services, an online payment and bill processing platform also co-founded by Connor, later acquired the firm. In 2007, Connor founded the Connor Group Kids & Community Partners, serving disadvantaged youth in communities where the Connor Group operates. Connor has been a member of the National Council of

McLean Hospital McLean Hospital () (formerly known as Somerville Asylum and Charlestown Asylum) is a psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. It is noted for its clinical staff expertise and neuroscience research and is also known for the large number of ...

since 2008. Connor and the Connor Group have received awards including the 2014 Glassdoor Top 50 Best Places to Work in the US, Small and Medium-Sized Companies, a nomination to the Dayton Magazine 2017 Dayton Business Hall of Fame and multiple Dayton Business Journal Top 100 Businesses in the Region. In 2017, Connor lead fundraising efforts for the redevelopment of The

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The uni ...

's indoor stadium,

UD Arena University of Dayton Arena (commonly known as UD Arena) is a 13,409-seat multi-purpose arena located in Dayton, Ohio. The arena opened in 1969. It is home to the University of Dayton Flyers basketball teams. From 2001 to 2010, the facility host ...

. He was tasked with raising $33 million of the $72 million total. Connor made a substantial donation himself, before finding other donors to raise the amount required. The stadium opened in 2019 following its renovation. Connor co-founded First Billing Services in 2003, which provided payment solutions to utility and municipal government clients. In 2019, it was announced that it would be acquired by

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

-based,

Paya Inc. Paya, Inc. is an American payment processor service that operates in North America and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. As well as its headquarters, it has offices in Florida, Ohio and Virginia. The company provides online payments proc ...

During the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, Connor made efforts to help alleviate effects of the pandemic for his employees. On April 23, 2020, he donated $1.6 Million as bonuses to his associates, which was given to those on salaries under $150,000 per year. He also agreed to fund childcare expenses and expanded the company-sponsored loan program.

Sports and personal interests

Connor is a private pilot involved in several aerobatic competitions. In 2000 and 2001, Connor was the winner of the SCCA Formula Atlantic National Championship. He also raced in 2002 to defend his title. Later that year, he competed in the

2002 24 Hours of Daytona The 2002 Rolex 24 at Daytona was a Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series 24-hour endurance sports car race held on February 2–3, 2002 at the Daytona International Speedway road course. The race served as the first round of the 2002 Rolex Sports Ca ...

. In 2003, Connor was part of the winning team at

Petit Le Mans The Petit Le Mans (French for ''little Le Mans'') is a sports car endurance race held annually at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, USA. It uses the rules established for the 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which ar ...

in the LMP675 class. Connor also competed in the

2004 24 Hours of Le Mans The 72nd 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''72e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a non-championship 24 hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring cars held from 12 to 13 June at the Circuit de la Sarthe close to Le Mans, ...

. Connor is the founder of Team C Racing. Competing in the Truck Spec class, Connor won the

Baja 1000 The Baja 1000 is an annual Mexican off-road motorsport race held on the Baja California Peninsula. It is one of the most prestigious off-road races in the world, having attracted competitors from six continents. The race was founded by Ed Pear ...

in 2014. In June 2016, the team won the

Baja 500 The Baja 500 is a Mexican off-road motorsport race on the Baja California Peninsula that is sanctioned by SCORE International. The course has remained relatively the same over the years with the majority of events being a loop race starting and f ...

Trophy Truck Spec series. Team C Racing recorded a winning time of 10 hours and 33 minutes, two hours in front of the second placed team. In April 2021, Connor completed 3 dives in the

Hadal zone The hadal zone, also known as the hadopelagic zone, is the deepest region of the ocean, lying within oceanic trenches. The hadal zone ranges from around below sea level, and exists in long, narrow, topographic V-shaped depressions. The cum ...

, part of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

with depths below 20,000 ft. The dives were completed alongside Patrick Lahey, with the aim of better understanding of the geologic and biologic makeup of the Hadal zone. The three dives covered

Challenger Deep The Challenger Deep is the deepest-known point of the seabed of Earth, with a depth of by direct measurement from deep-diving submersibles, remotely operated underwater vehicles and benthic landers, and (sometimes) slightly more by sonar bathym ...

Sirena Deep The Sirena Deep, originally named the HMRG Deep, was discovered in 1997 by a team of scientists from Hawaii. Its directly measured depth of is third only to the Challenger Deep and Horizon Deep, currently the deepest known directly measured ...

and a seamount in the

Mariana Trench The Mariana Trench is an oceanic trench located in the western Pacific Ocean, about east of the Mariana Islands; it is the deepest oceanic trench on Earth. It is crescent-shaped and measures about in length and in width. The maximum know ...

. Prior to April 2021, only two other people had explored the

Victor Vescovo Victor Lance Vescovo (born 1966) is an American private equity investor, retired naval officer, space tourist and undersea explorer. He is a co-founder and managing partner of private equity company Insight Equity Holdings. Vescovo achieved the ...

and

Alan Jamieson Alan J. Jamieson is a Scottish marine biologist, engineer, explorer and author, best known for his deep-sea exploration and study of life at the deepest places in the oceans. He is known for extensive use of deep-sea landers to establish the maxi ...

in 2018. Connor reported that he aimed to go both to space and to the deepest part of the ocean within the same year. On April 8, 2022, Connor was a

Axiom Mission 1 Axiom Mission 1 (or Ax-1) was a privately funded and operated crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The mission was operated by Axiom Space out of Axiom's Mission Control Center MCC-A in Houston, Texas. The flight launched ...

, travelling to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

(ISS). The mission was the first all-private space mission to the International Space Station, with Connor one of a four-member crew. At 72 years of age, Connor was the second oldest person to enter orbit, after John Glenn who entered space aged 77. Connor took heart cells to the ISS' microgravity laboratory.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Connor, Larry 1950 births Atlantic Championship drivers Axiom Space Living people McLean Hospital people Ohio University alumni People from Dayton, Ohio Racing drivers from Ohio Space tourists U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers 21st-century American businesspeople American real estate businesspeople

Education

Career

Sports and personal interests

See also

References

External links