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Steve Yerrid tells CASA audience of the abuse he suffered at his own father's hands

 
Steve Yerrid stunned an audience of about 400 people gathered at an fundraiser to fight domestic violence Tuesday morning with this admission: As a child, Yerrid was a victim of his own father’s abuse. 
Steve Yerrid stunned an audience of about 400 people gathered at an fundraiser to fight domestic violence Tuesday morning with this admission: As a child, Yerrid was a victim of his own father’s abuse. 
Published Dec. 10, 2014

ST. PETERSBURG — As the hard-charging Tampa lawyer who has fought for clients against the tobacco industry, BP and many others, Steve Yerrid keeps a high profile.

Yet he stunned an audience of about 400 people gathered at a fundraiser to fight domestic violence Tuesday morning with this admission: As a child, Yerrid was a victim of his own father's abuse.

His voice occasionally breaking, Yerrid said that by the time he was 7, he had suffered four or five concussions from his father's blows. Stepping in front of his mother to protect her from his father, he said, "I had never been so terrified in my life."

Yerrid, 65, said his father was a heavyweight boxing champion in the U.S. Army Air Corps "who never lost a bout in competition or at home." Yerrid said he himself became a street fighter, breaking numerous bones in his hands before taking up amateur boxing.

He is an only child, and both of his parents have died. "I mean no disrespect to my parents,'' said Yerrid, a philanthropist and keynote speaker at the annual Community Action Stops Abuse (CASA) Peace Breakfast. "I loved both of them very much."

Their home life precipitated both confusion and betrayal, he said, but also probably fueled what Yerrid called "my greatest gift'' — advocacy "for people who have been wronged.''

"Because life is difficult, that doesn't mean you quit. Because life takes from you, it doesn't mean you don't give back,'' he said. CASA, he said, "has given people hope and options."

Audience members, initially surprised at Yerrid's remarks, rewarded him with warm applause and a standing ovation. But the biggest cheers of the morning went to CASA executive director Linda Osmundson, who has been dealing with a serious health condition, a facial growth that has disfigured her. As a Christian Scientist, she has declined conventional medical treatment and is praying for healing, she recently said in a front-page Tampa Bay Times profile.

Osmundson has led CASA for the past 25 years. Board of directors chairwoman Jean Krause announced that the headquarters for the domestic violence shelter, prevention and education organization has been named the Linda A. Osmundson Administrative Office.

"I have a health problem," Osmundson told the audience, her words difficult to understand because of the tumor. "I am not afraid."

Osmundson said she is working to raise the remaining $5 million needed for a new 100-bed shelter that should be completed by summer.

Residents now take refuge in a 110-year-old house. Last year, space limits forced CASA to turn away more than 1,400 survivors of domestic violence, half of them children.

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In yet another stirring moment at the breakfast, Craig Sher, executive chairman of the Sembler Co., remembered the late John E. Stross, a longtime CASA supporter who died in May. Sher presented the John E. Stross Victory Over Violence Award to Ken Burke, clerk of the Circuit Court and comptroller of Pinellas County.

Contact Mary Jane Park at mjpark@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8267.