Philanthropist laid to rest, a year after his death
Though he died in South Carolina, health care tycoon Steven D. Clayton was a South Floridian through and through.
Born here in 1954, Clayton — who founded the national chain company Physical Therapy Resources — attended Miami Military Academy and Miami Springs Senior High School. He graduated from Florida State University in 1976. In addition to writing poetry, collecting art, golf, hiking, boating and travel, one of Clayton’s biggest passions was horticulture and gardening. He was particularly known for his garden at his Fort Lauderdale home.
“He built a beautiful home, exquisite,” says George Castrataro, the attorney for Life Celebration Memorial Chapel, the funeral home facilitating the service. “He was so engaged in landscaping and imported very, very exotic plants. He was really into indigenous horticulture in South Florida. Your newspaper did a feature on his home at some point because it was so magnificent.”
Clayton was laid to rest Sunday at Evergreen Cemetery, 1300
SE 10th Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Clayton was interred alongside his father. The committal rites and service was a celebration of life rather than a traditional funeral. Attendees were encouraged to wear light colors and summer attire.
Clayton died on July 21, 2018. A subsequent autopsy revealed he had been poisoned with tetrahydrozoline or eye drops. His wife, Lana Sue, who two years before that claimed that she “accidentally” shot Clayton with a crossbow, eventually confessed to police that she had spiked her husband’s water with eye drops over a three-day period.
“The nature of his death was traumatic for the family,” Castrataro, who is friends with Rosemarie Leslie, one of Clayton’s sisters.
“They wanted to spend some time personally grieving before grieving publicly. At that time [immediately after his death] there was a small service for him, but now the family wants a service without the suspect, if you will, involved.”
After selling his company in 1995, Clayton focused his attentions on advising young people, even after moving to South Carolina, where he built a home that was an exact copy of George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon.
Castrataro adds: “There was a cocktail party leading up to his [service] and I was just amazed at the number of young people in their 20s and 30s who got their start either through a scholarship or through his mentoring service. He gave them the benefit of his financial experience and his time, he was equally generous with his time.”