ORLANDO, FL — Former First Amendment attorney and advocate David Wasserman died Thursday at his home. He was 52.Authorities are calling the death a suicide.
In the 1990s, Wasserman was a high-profile attorney for the adult entertainment industry. He rose to prominence by defending rave clubs, adult bookstores, BDSM dungeons and, possibly most notoriously, CollegeBoysLive.com, a gay website on which young men lived their lives on camera 24/7 to the consternation of Seminole County, FL, officials.
He also fought sexually oriented business laws in New Smyrna Beach, FL, on behalf of his own lingerie shop and lately in Lake County, FL, on behalf of Fantasy Gentlemen’s Club, which he owned and which the county and the landlord wanted to close because dancers performed in the nude. Wasserman faced criminal charges stemming from a raid at the club earlier this year, and last month filed a federal lawsuit against the county and his landlord, claiming both were attempting unconstitutional interference with his and the dancers’ rights to free expression.
The Orlando Sentinel described Wasserman as “a passionate defender of the First Amendment who loved a good fight and reveled in speaking his mind… He was the Christian Coalition’s nightmare, a guy whose credo was naked bodies are no big deal. And none of the government’s business.”
In an April interview with the Sentinel, Wasserman called himself “a crusader. A lot of people love to hate me.”
Wasserman’s public life took a turn for the worse in 2003, when he was arrested for growing marijuana in his apartment in the tony Heathrow country club area of Orlando. His companion said Wasserman suffered from depression since his mother’s death 16 years ago, and he publicly admitted attempting suicide the night of his arrest. His law license was suspended in 2004 after he pleaded no contest to the drug charges. Since then, the Sentinel reported, he has lived in a $350-a-month apartment with his companion, Lois Stone, a bartender at Fantasy Gentlemen’s Club.
“I want David to be remembered for who he really was,” Stone, 48, told the Sentinel. “He was the most loving, caring individual I have ever met.”
In April, Wasserman told the Sentinel, “I want to be remembered as a first-class lawyer who was very ethical, that I was a caring person and tried to help the poor and the downtrodden.”
According to former law partner Lawrence Walters, that’s exactly how he will be remembered.
“David was first and foremost a freedom fighter and a true believer in the First Amendment,” Walters told YNOT. “He struggled with personal issues for a long time, and it’s sad to see his life and career come to this sort of end. But David will be remembered as an aggressive free speech advocate and someone who never backed down from a fight.”
Wasserman is survived by his father, several siblings and a stepdaughter.
