His last day was May 30, 2014. For 22 years, Larry Graham has been the voice, face and persona of America’s confectionery industry. And yet, the always dapper-looking president of the National Confectioners Association didn’t start out to be America’s de facto “candy man.”
The Boston University Law School graduate actually began his career working for the government. He spent two years with the Agency of International Development in South Vietnam working in refugee camps and rebuilding towns in Quang Tri Province. Upon his return to the States, he decided to join the Wall Street firm of Beekman & Bogue. In 1972, he moved to Washington to become chief administrative and legislative aide to U.S. Congressman Clarence Brown.