Larry Mermelstein will act as preceptor for the end-of-life ceremonies.

His history with Shambhala began in 1971, when he became a close student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. As a founding member and executive director of the Nalanda Translation Committee, Larry worked closely with Trungpa Rinpoche in translating and presenting Buddhist teachings in the West and was among the group of translators who worked with the Vidyadhara in translating all the Shambhala termas or core texts from Tibetan to English. He is a long-time consulting editor to Shambhala Publications and served as a member of the board of directors and an acharya (senior teacher) in the Vajradhatu/Shambhala community for twenty years.