LiveLikeLara Foundation

The LiveLikeLara Foundation is a non-profit organization created to honor and celebrate the life and memory of Lara D. Gass

LiveLikeLara Foundation

The LiveLikeLara Foundation is a non-profit organization created to honor and celebrate the life and memory of Lara D. Gass

Our Mission

Providing scholarships, supporting women in the law, The Innocence Project, helping the homeless, and​ strengthening highway, truck and car safety.

Thank You

It has been almost five years since we lost Lara. Not a day goes by that we don’t think of her. But there is also not a day goes by that we don’t think of the kindness of family and friends.

Scholarships

The Lara D. Gass ’14L Memorial Law Scholarship was created in 2014 by the family, friends and classmates of Lara to memorialize Lara and to recognize the role she played as a student at Washington and Lee School of Law. It is a permanently endowed fund at Washington and Lee University providing a scholarship to a third year law student.

Lara D. Grass Law School

LARA’S CONTRIBUTIONS

Lara loved the law and felt that our legal system was a good one for the most part. Lara was also passionate about the death penalty and felt there was no use for it. She channeled that passion into a Note that was published in 2013. Her note left no doubt as to how the Virginia law has systematically exaggerated the ostensible “future dangerousness” of prisoners who will never be released from prison, which has pushed juries to authorize more executions than any other state but Texas. She also never forgot the human story of unfairness and tragedy.

WHO WE ARE

The LiveLikeLara Foundation is managed by a six-member Board of Directors. The specific areas of investment are in:

  • The Lara D. Gass Memorial Law Scholarship;​​
  • Support of the Lara. D. Gass Women in the Law Symposium
  • The Innocence Project;​
  • Helping the homeless; and​
  • Highway, truck and car safety.
In Memory of Lara D. Grass

We are continuing to carry Lara’s light in the world

Lara was an inspiration to so many. She touched many people’s lives and hearts through her fight against injustice, helping the helpless, support of women in law, helping her community, friends, family, and positively impacting everyone she met. We look to continue that same passion and carry her mission forward in her loving memory.

MAKE A DONATION

Help further our cause and help continue Lara’s passion.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Find upcoming events or other ways you can make a difference today!

SCHOLARSHIPS

Do you want to give to our scholarship fund, or know how to apply to receive the Lara D. Gass Memorial Law Scholarship? Click here to find out more.

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WHAT PEOPLE SAY

…She was a shooting star that lit up our lives for too short of a time. But, man, what a light. My wish is to be more like her.

Patrick and Anna Bolling

Friends

Forever in our hearts, we will be spreading your light everywhere we go.

Katherine Coleman

Friend

Some people talk about justice; others live it. Lara lived it. Lara was a leader in the Washington & Lee Innocence Project (formerly the Southwest Virginia Innocence Project), an organization that fights to exonerate innocent prisoners…

Rebecca Reed

Class of 2014 Law School Classmate

“Lara took a course I taught on the death penalty. She chose to write about a case the Supreme Court of Virginia was about to hear. Lara’s Note is the latest and best discussion of the most serious single defect in Virginia’s system of capital punishment. As a lawyer – and she had what it takes to be good – Lara would have spotted many more things that were wrong. And she would have worked hard to change them.

David Bruck

Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse, Washington & Lee University School of Law

“Lara’s death is an immeasurable loss. In regard to Lara’s talents as a young legal professional, the best tribute I can make is to say that as a student in my class and as a colleague in putting on the Roe Symposium,she never gave me a single reason to complain. In regards to her attributes as a human being, we all know how special Lara was. Her enthusiasm for life and positive spirit were uplifting to all who were fortunate enough to know her. We were blessed to have her in our lives for a time that was far too short. She will be sorely missed.”

Samuel Calhoun

Professor of Law, Washington & Lee University School of Law

“Lara Gass is unique – in life and in death. She brought out the best in all of those around her during her – much too short – life and upon her death. Only a few can claim such an achievement. The statement I heard most frequently upon the announcement of her tragic death was that Lara was a young person “who would go places”. She impressed everyone she met with her presence, her great sense of humor, and her enjoyment of life. She truly lived her life to the fullest – filled with projects she enjoyed, devoted to her family and friends. Her memory will live on and inspire those who knew her. I wish for her spirit to animate the halls of the Law School.”

Nora V. Demleitner

Professor of Law and former Dean, Washington & Lee University School of Law

At moments like this, there is nothing one can say to make the premature passing of a friend and colleague less tragic. Lara stood on the cusp of life that portended only success. Ours is a felt loss – and the world is diminished by all Lara did not get to do. Like every good leader I have known, Lara accomplished so much by making it almost unthinkable to disappoint her. In his final months, Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, facing terminal cancer, asked an Eastern spiritual leader , “What is the most appropriate thing to say to a friend who is about to die?” The mystic answered: “Tell your friend that in his death, a part of you dies and goes with him.” Now, if a little piece of those impacted goes with every person who dies, they are going to need a lot of room in Heaven for Lara.

Robin Fretwell Wilson

Roger & Stephany Joslin Professor of Law and Director of Family Law & Policy, Illinois School of Law

“Words alone cannot capture the life of Lara, her infectious personality, or what she means to me. Alas this tribute must fail to do her justice. Sadly, it has taken the loss of my true counterpart and best friend to fully appreciate how Lara indelibly changed me, how she inspired me to be a stronger lawyer, a more conscientious citizen, and a better man. Most importantly, she impressed upon me her belief that nothing we accomplish in this world means anything if we forge ahead alone and fail to appreciate the opportunities to experience new people and places along the way.

Christopher Wagner

Best Friend