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William LaTorre's wife, friends left wondering why after suicide (w/video)

 
Dr. William LaTorre died in his office Thursday,  police said.
Dr. William LaTorre died in his office Thursday, police said.
Published Oct. 18, 2014

GULFPORT — Dr. William LaTorre had ordered stone crab claws for their anniversary dinner on Thursday, "which is our tradition," Wendy LaTorre said.

"Just the two of us. After 38 years, that's what you do."

She left for the gym before sunrise, as is her custom. When she returned home, his car was gone. As usual.

"It was that normal a day," she said. "My anniversary cards were sitting on the table."

In one, Dr. LaTorre wrote: "With your love, I'm complete."

He had forgotten his cellphone, as was often the case. He could pick it up at lunchtime, when he came home to walk their dogs, Hugo, a goldendoodle; and Prana, a yellow Labrador retriever.

"I was leaving for my work, and the police came," Wendy LaTorre said on Friday, a day after St. Petersburg police said her husband shot himself inside his St. Petersburg chiropractic office.

"I didn't know my husband had a gun," she said. "I hated guns. None of us knew he had a gun. It was not even part of our world."

They were married "in a little apartment in Gulfport" in 1976, Mrs. LaTorre said. They met in Dallas at a chiropractic convention.

Dr. LaTorre's name was in headlines after he crashed his 35-foot speedboat into a 17-foot powerboat on Memorial Day weekend 1989. The collision in the Intracoastal Waterway near Indian Rocks Beach killed four teenagers and injured another. The next year, a jury acquitted him of four counts of vessel homicide.

"We thought about leaving the city," Mrs. LaTorre said, "but he felt like he had so much support and love. I was so proud of the fact that he insisted on staying. There was a lot of bitterness in the community, but he overcame it. He always felt so bad. It was just a tragic accident."

The incident changed her husband, she said; often, he would go out onto their dock and look out over the water.

"He was in and out of therapy, including last year."

They planned to sell their house on Boca Ciega Bay, she said. "We wanted to move downtown. Billy was excited about walking to restaurants."

They had taken a recent trip to Jamaica. They looked forward to visiting a friend in Key West. On Saturday, they attended the black-tie Sapphire Ball fundraiser for PARC at the Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort, where they danced to the music of Kool & the Gang. On Sunday, they had an early birthday party for close friend Kevin Harrington, an entrepreneur and an investor in ABC-TV's Shark Tank.

"Everybody's pictures are of Bill laughing," Mrs. LaTorre said.

"The greatest thing he ever did was make people laugh," said neighbor Gary Damkoehler, who was among the friends in the LaTorre home on Friday. He and his wife, Gail, frequently travel with the LaTorres, whom they have known for more than 20 years.

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The doctor often told "complicated, long jokes" and phoned him every evening on the way home from the office, Damkoehler said. "He was the nicest guy you could ever meet. Bill was my best friend."

Cecil Martin, who came in from Chicago after learning of Dr. LaTorre's death, was both a patient and close associate. The doctor treated him "before and after" he played with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Martin said, citing LaTorre's "community service, guidance and mentorship."

A frequent guest at Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations with the LaTorres, Martin helped them deliver holiday food to the needy.

Mrs. LaTorre said she will forever wonder why her husband took his life. After actor Robin Williams' suicide in August, she recalled, "Bill said he thought that was a terrible thing to do to his family.

"It's a terrible thing, terrible for all of us who have lost him," she said. "I just have to replace all the wonder(ing) with all the wonder that was Bill."