Colleagues Remember Larry Yates

County employees were saddened to hear of the passing of Sheriff’s Community Services Officer Lawrence “Larry” Yates over the weekend.

Yates, 54, died after scuba diving in the La Jolla Shores area Saturday afternoon in an incident that was widely covered by local media. He is survived by his wife Vanessa.

Yates, who lived in Chula Vista, was a familiar face around the County Administration Center in recent years. Hired as a Deputy Sheriff Cadet in 2006, he served as a Community Services Officer assigned to Court Services and County Administration Center (CAC) Security in recent years. That meant he often interacted with the public at the CAC’s entrances, making sure those entering were successfully screened for weapons and that the building was safe.

Colleagues described him Monday as an intelligent, personable man who had a good sense of humor and was close with his family.

Sheriff’s Deputy Cliston Hensley said Yates was always very professional with the public.

He was active, Hensley said, often riding his motorcycle to work and going scuba diving around the world with his wife. Yates often talked about his dog, named Tarzan, and was known for flipping the TV in a Sheriff’s break room to the Animal Planet station. He also volunteered with the Boy Scouts.

Hensley said Yates had a dry, witty sense of humor. His father had been in the Navy, so he knew a lot about the military and its rankings. When Hensley would greet a member of the military and goof up their title, Yates would jokingly correct him.

“He would say, ‘you just promoted him,” Hensley said.

Yates’ supervisor, Cpl. Chuck Russell, said a group of Sheriff’s Department co-workers based at the CAC went to breakfast together every other Saturday. Yates was excited to go scuba diving after their breakfast this past weekend, Russell said.

“He made a lot of friends here,” Russell said. “We’re all friends.”

Notes and condolence cards can be sent to the family at: Court Services Bureau-San Diego, Mail Stop C-26. Information on a funeral service and a donation fund for Yates’ family is pending.