Larry Dossey
September 27, 1940 – August 25, 2026
 

Larry Dossey, MD, 85, passed away peacefully with Barbara (Barbie)—his wife, life partner and soulmate—by his side at 11:55 p.m., at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was born September 27, 1940, in Groesbeck, Texas, to Ida Faye Belzle Dossey and James Leroy Dossey. Born on a small share-cropper cotton farm, Larry and Garry, his identical twin brother, arrived prematurely at 7½ months, each weighing 2½ pounds. Although twins, they had different birthdays: Larry arrived at 11:55 p.m. just before midnight; Garry, arrived at 12:05 a.m. just after midnight. Their parents used a dresser drawer as an improvised bassinet. A sister, Betty, arrived on Garry’s birthday five years later. Although Larry’s birthday was September 27, their parents celebrated all three children’s birthdays on September 28.  Larry only discovered that he was, in fact, born on September 27 when he was drafted into the Army and his papers were initially rejected due to an incorrect birthdate. A copy of his birth certificate, which he requested from the Limestone County Courthouse in Groesbeck, revealed his birthday was actually September 27.

 

Larry’s childhood home had neither indoor plumbing nor running water in the house; all water was drawn from a deep well in a bucket on a pulley. In high school, Larry learned to type, a skill that served him well the rest of his life. In 1958, when Larry was a junior in high school, he decided he wanted to debate. He entered the University Scholastic League (UIL), and since he needed a partner, he recruited Garry. They had no coach, but they were released from school at 2 p.m. each day so they could prepare for the competition. That year and their senior year, the self-taught duo went to the UIL state finals, both times losing in split decisions to debate teams with professional coaches. After graduating from high school, Larry and his brother became the first members of their family to go to college.

 

Larry matriculated at the University of Texas at Austin and graduated in 1963 with high honors in pharmacy, as did Garry. They both entered Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, although Garry subsequently opted to pursue a degree in dentistry. During their years of post-college training, they worked double 7 a.m.–10 p.m. shifts as pharmacists on Saturdays and Sundays. On November 22, they were walking through the Parkland Hospital Emergency Department after lunch. President John F. Kennedy had just been shot and then rushed to Parkland Hospital. CBS News journalist Robert Pierpoint, who was covering the president’s trip to Dallas, grabbed Larry and asked him to hold the payphone receiver in order to keep the line open to CBS. There were only four phones, and Robert MacNeill, an NBC reporter who was also covering the Kennedys’ trip, asked Garry to hold a phone receiver for him.  It was a day of history in the making that neither of them ever forgot.

 

Larry received his M.D. degree in 1967. In his last month of medical school, he did a rotation in the critical care unit at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. There, he met and began dating nurse Barbara “Barbie” Dossey, who became his beloved wife in 1972. 

 

Following his internship, Larry became a battalion surgeon in Vietnam in 1968–69, where he served as a captain, US Army (Medical Corps), First Battalion, 50th Infantry Division (Mech), 173rd Airborne Brigade. He was decorated for valor and received the Bronze Star, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, US Vietnam Service Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Medal. His second year of military service 1969-70 was at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

 

After serving in the military, Larry completed his internal medicine residency, 1970–72, at the Dallas Veterans Administration Hospital and Parkland Memorial Hospital, also in Dallas. In 1974 Larry and eight other general and specialty internists founded the Dallas Diagnostic Association (DDA) and began practice at the newly opened Medical City Dallas Hospital. Within the DDA, Larry established a biofeedback department, making it the city’s first medical practice to do so. In 1982 Larry served as chief of staff of Medical City Dallas Hospital. The medical group had grown to over 20 members by 1988, when Larry retired from clinical practice to write full-time. The DDA became part of the Baylor Health Care System and later, Baylor Scott and White Health Care System. DDA has now been in existence for more than 50 years.

 

In 1990, Larry and Barbie moved to Santa Fe and built a home in the foothills. At the top of their property, where the vista is stunning, Larry created a medicine wheel on the ground surrounded by four benches, a peaceful area to sit in contemplation or just enjoy the view.

 

Larry was a man of boundless intellectual curiosity, both in breadth and depth, who read avidly and widely. He always cited Aldous Huxley’s Perennial Philosophy as his favorite book, and his favorite quote as Sir Arthur Eddington’s "Something unknown is doing we don’t know what.” The quote is inscribed on the overhead beams in a hallway of the Dossey home.

 

Larry was president of the Isthmus Institute of Dallas from 1985–87, an organization dedicated to exploring the possible convergences of science and religious thought. Larry lectured widely in the United States and abroad. In 1988 he delivered the annual Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Lecture in New Delhi, the only physician ever invited to do so. He was the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the Bravewell Collaborative Pioneers of Integrative Medicine in 2007, and six national/international awards with his wife, Barbara.

 

Larry was the co-chairman of the Panel on Mind/Body Interventions, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health from 1992–95. He was co-founder and executive editor of the peer-reviewed journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine from 1995–2004, and co-founder and executive editor of the internationally recognized peer-reviewed journal Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, from 2005–21. Upon retirement, he became the executive editor, emeritus. 

 

More than 150 articles of Larry’s were published, and he authored thirteen books. He always said that he had a “book angel” who saw to it that he always found exactly the information he needed when writing his books. His books are Space, Time & Medicine (1982), Beyond Illness (1984), Recovering the Soul (1989), Meaning & Medicine (1991), Healing Words (1993, New York Times bestseller), Prayer Is Good Medicine (1996), Be Careful What You Pray For (1997), Reinventing Medicine (1999), Healing Beyond the Body (2001), The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things (2006), The Power of Premonitions (2009), and One Mind: How Our Individual Mind Is Part of a Greater Consciousness and Why It Matters (2013). He is the co-author of What Is Consciousness? (2016). His books have been translated into many languages. A skilled needlepointer, he recreated the covers of all of his books and Barbie’s books by reproducing and stitching them freehand on canvas. He also played the piano and flute.

 

Larry was an inspired leader and visionary in the development of complementary/alternative medicine and its integration with conventional medicine. He was a recognized pioneer in what has come to be known as nonlocal consciousness, a term he coined in 1981 and published that he had coined the term in 1989 in Recovering the Soul. Larry's work in consciousness research centered on therapeutic intention, healing, and the ability of a person to hold intentional consciousness and thereby affect the wellbeing of other organisms, from bacteria in a petri dish to another human being. His articles and books greatly influenced medical education and consciousness research.

 

Larry’s love of nature was integral throughout his life. He loved having his hands in the dirt. His early annual gardens in Santa Fe yielded 30-to-40-pound pumpkins, along with beans, corn, squashes, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, watermelons, lettuces and many herbs and flowers. He stopped planting a garden when the high-desert water shortage made it morally untenable to him. A passionate fly fisherman, Larry’s love of fly fishing never waned—the reason his friends dubbed him “Troutman.” Larry and Barbie were avid backpackers. Each summer for forty-five years, they hiked and camped in the high country. Their favorite destinations included the Wind River Range in Wyoming, the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho, and the Sierra Mountains in California.

 

Bringing the experience of a practicing internist and the soul of a poet to the discourse, Larry offered a panoramic insight into the nature and future of medicine. With his clear understanding of the role of consciousness and spirituality in helping humans to flourish, he became an internationally influential advocate and staunch supporter of this new paradigm. Larry lived his values. He will always be remembered for his kindness, integrity, compassion and grace. As a masterful and captivating communicator, he uniquely touched many with his words, actions, writings and the sheer force of 

his being. 

 

Larry was preceded in death by his parents Ida Faye Belzle Dossey and James Leroy Dossey, and his sister Betty Dossey Stephens. Larry is survived by his wife Barbara Montgomery Dossey. He is also survived by his twin brother, Dr. Garry Dossey and his wife Jane; his brother-in-law David Stephens; two nephews, two nieces and three great-nephews and one great-niece.  

 

Larry loved the wilderness, so in lieu of flowers, please consider donating a tree in his honor to be planted in a national forest at www.alivingtribute.org. The releasing of his ashes will take place at a private gathering. A virtual ​celebration and memorial for Larry will be on Saturday, September 5th, 2026 at 2 p.m. MST (US) on www.dosseydossey.com and will be archived for those unable to attend. To send a tribute, a private Memorial guestbook will be available on September 5th at www.dosseydossey.com.

 

Larry’s One Mind: How Our Individual Minds are Part of a Greater Consciousness and Why It Matters, is about the concept of the One Mind—which, evidence suggests, is a collective, unitary domain of intelligence, of which all individual minds are a part. The One Mind is a dimension, in which you and I meet, as we are doing even now.