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Jerry Lasso
1956-2003
Founder of Universal Institute Inc.
 Our
dear friend and advocate Jerry Lasso passed away in his sleep
on January 26th 2003.
Jerry suffered an injury in 1976 while vacationing in Florida.
When he awoke from his coma he was told he would never walk
again. Needless to say, Jerry not only walked again, but he
walked down the aisle at his own wedding. A number of years
later in 1980 Jerry required emergency surgery on his aortic
valve which was injured in his original accident. he woke
up a paraplegic. Once again Jerry was told that his life would
be seriously altered and he could certainly not expect to
father children. Jerry startled the experts with not only one
child, but twins!
Jerry was well known to everyone in the brain injury world.
He founded Universal Institue Inc. in 1989 based upon his
own experiences as a paraplegic and started a revolution in
the rehabilitation industry. Jerry believed that rehabilitation
had to be person centered and that therapy had to be individualized
based upon the needs and desires of the client. "No cookie
cutter therapy here", he would say. In fact, he was the
first to refer to the individuals receiving services as "clients"
rather than patients.
Now fourteen years later, the company that he founded has
treated thousands of individuals from all over the world and
offers every type of rehabilitation as well as residential
programs. All this from a man who specialists said would never
be able to do anything of value after his injury.
Jerry enjoyed every moment of life which included riding a
Harley Davidson that he modified to be handicapped accessible.
He was an inspiration to all of us and made the world understand
that we are all disabled but for some like him it was just
more obvious. In fact, he did not even believe in the word
disability. As Jerry always said, "We must always focus
on the abilities, not the disabilities".
Universal Institute Inc. continues to grow, building upon
Jerry's original vision. The company is led by Jerry's long
time business partner and friend Adam Steinberg (CEO / President)
and Jerry's wife Lisa Lasso (CFO).
As one client at Universal put it, "God got one of the
great ones".
From the first time I rolled into
Jerry's office I had that feeling, you know, the good
one, like wow, holy cow if this guy is breaking all the
rules about being disabled and doing the things that you
want to do, a life with limitless boundaries, I want that.
Thanks to Jerry, I'm doing that. I will definitely miss
popping my head in his office or seeing him in the gym,
telling some sick joke or talking about tattoos or whatta
you gonna get pierced next? Or another accident? I think
that Mercedes is too much car for you (haha). Jerry was
a very unique individual. Was a great role model for disabled
people and just a great person to talk to and be around.
You will be missed.
"God got one of the great ones..."
- Gene |
Thank God for Jerry Lasso and his vision.
-Universal Institute
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