Longtime Tucson school photographer found dead in Mexico

Larry Lurie apparently hanged himself in a hotel room, said Alejandro Palacios, a spokesman for the city of Nogales, Sonora. The hotel where Lurie’s body was found is located about 2 1/2 miles south of the U.S.-Mexican border. It is unknown why he killed himself.

Lurie had taken school photos for more than 30 years for area districts. His disappearance became news earlier this week when the principal of at least one middle school sent a letter home to parents, letting them know that the Tucson Unified School District had been unable to locate the photographer.

His disappearance left hundreds of families that bought school photos in the lurch, and some schools scrambling to figure out how to complete their yearbooks with no photographs.

Unless Lurie left the photos behind somewhere, parents who purchased photo packets at some TUSD schools will be out of luck. They generally spent anywhere from $11 to $33 for the packages.

That’s because the district in this case was only a pass-though, said Rob Ross, TUSD’s attorney. Lurie didn’t win a bid to do the work. He contracted directly with the schools he worked with. In exchange for being able to sell his product, he provided the school with yearbook and student identification photos for free.

The district won’t reimburse the parents or make good on the photos with a new photographer because the parents contracted directly with Lurie, Ross said.

“We have no idea who ordered what or how much they paid,” Ross said.

He said that eight to 10 schools likely are affected, though Jones Photo stepped in to help two of the schools, Carson and Valencia.