Thursday 7 July 2022 11:12 PM Florida newspaper apologizes for running obituary by son of ex-NYPD cop who ... trends now
The publisher of a Florida newspaper apologized for the poison-pen obituary written by the embittered son of a former NYPD officer that called him an 'abusive alcoholic' who was 'incapable of love.'
The mea culpa by Florida Times-Union publisher Gannett came after Lawrence Pfaff Jr., of Jacksonville, memorialized his dad in the July 2 edition of their paper as a 'womanizer' who left behind a 'path of destruction.'
'From a young age, he was a ladies' man and an abusive alcoholic, solidifying his commitment to both with the path of destruction he left behind, damaging his adult children, and leaving them broken,' the heartsick son wrote.
Lawrence Pfaff Jr wrote a scathing takedown of his father, who he called an 'abusive alcoholic' in an obituary that ran in the Florida Times Union
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Lawrence Pfaff Sr, pictured here, was trashed by his son in a poison-pen obituary that ran in the Florida Times-Union
He went on to trash his father as a ne'er-do-well whose love of the bottle eclipsed anything else in his love.
'Lawrence, Sr's hobbies included abusing his first wife and children,' the son wrote. 'He loved to start projects but never followed through on any of them. He enjoyed the life of a bar fly for many years and had a quaint little living space, studio, above his favorite hole in the wall, the club Nashville.'
The blistering epitaph proved too much for Gannett after the paper hit Southern Florida's doorsteps.
Lawrence Pfaff Jr, pictured here with his wife, Gwen, said that he wrote the scathing memorial to his dad so that he could cleanse himself and move past his anger
'We regrettably published an obituary that did not adhere to our guidelines and we are looking into the matter further,' the publisher told First Coast News. 'We regret any distress this may have caused.'
Pfaff Jr said that he started the takedown of his father a year before his father died in Belmont, New York, at the age of 81 on June 27.
'Writing his obituary was a way for me to cleanse myself and let that part of my life go,' he told the broadcast outlet.
