Larry Griffin, 62, a former banker and lobbyist who was part-owner of the Cotham’s restaurants in Scott and Little Rock, died Wednesday.
Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Saturday at All Souls Church in Scott. Burial will be 2 p.m. at Fakes Cemetery in McCrory. Visitation is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Friday at North Little Rock Funeral Home, 1921 Main St.
Griffin liked to hunt and carried an affinity for the grills that created his restaurant’s famous Hubcap Burger, a huge hamburger patrons often have to split with a friend.
“I just got this thing about grills,” he told Arkansas Business in August 1999, before opening Cotham’s in the City, a spinoff of the successful Cotham’s Country Store & Restaurant in Scott. “I think after 20 years, grills get a certain character, you know. You just take it with you.”
As the original Cotham’s, the Scott locale remains a hot lunch destination that’s a favorite for farmers, business folks and politicos. Griffin sold the Scott restaurant, at 5301 Hwy. 161 S. in 2001.
Cotham’s in the City carried on Scott restaurant’s home-cooking tradition, bringing favorites including catfish, onion rings and the Mississippi Mud Pie — a frozen, layered confection of of vanilla ice cream, dense chocolate cake, hot fudge and whipped cream — to Little Rock in the shadow of the state Capitol. Decorated with hundreds of political banners and signs from Arkansas candidates across the political spectrum, the restaurant became a place to see and be seen at lunchtime. Another Cotham’s eventually opened in west Little Rock.
Griffin was born in Feb. 5, 1942, in McCrory to Oscar and Alma Scott Griffin. He was a member of All Souls Church in Scott.
He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Linda Hickman Griffin of North Little Rock; son, David Griffin and wife, Sandy, of Dripping Springs, Texas; two daughters, Melissa Butler and husband, Daniel, of Austin, Texas and Jennifer Griffin, of Asheville, N.C.; two grandchildren, Gracie Griffin and Griffin Butler; brother, Glen Griffin, of Brinkley; sister, Mavis Yates, of McCrory; and his beloved dog, Kate. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Robert Griffin.
The family asks that memorials be made to American Heart Association, 909 W. 2nd St., Little Rock, AR 72201.
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