ARF, La Russa family, exchange more barbs over split
La Russa claims ARF is blocking return of family memorabilia
>> Tony La Russa's breakup with the Animal Rescue Foundation got uglier late last week, with an attorney for his family saying that the nonprofit has refused to let him retrieve his personal collection of baseball memorabilia and family gifts, including a guitar presented to him by Bruce Springsteen as congratulations for winning the 2006 World Series Championship.
The collection has long been on display at the East Bay nonprofit, which the former Oakland A's manager and his wife, Elaine La Russa, co-founded in 1991 to help find loving, permanent homes for stray and abandoned cats and dogs. The collection includes trophies, rings and Hall of Fame induction mementos. But La Russa and his family said that ARF has refused to let them come into the Walnut Creek facility to take home their belongings.
“There is no cause for ARF to hold hostage our family's valuable personal belongings,” La Russa said. “Our family has taken the high road during this very difficult time, but this is baffling and extremely upsetting.”
But officials at ARF dispute La Russa's claims, saying they are trying to work out a schedule for La Russa or a representative to retrieve the items in question.
Last week, Tony and Elaine La Russa and their daughters, Bianca and Devon La Russa, announced they had cut ties with the organization that had become synonymous with their Alamo-based family's brand of local philanthropy. In a statement Wednesday, the family cited concerns about the current leadership and said ARF executives were no longer committed to fostering a culture of “compassion and care for animals” and “mutual respect” among employees.
On Friday, La Russa attorney Shauna N. Correia said the family “made a very reasonable request” to coordinate a mutually convenient time when they could come to ARF, remove their most valuable belongings and photograph and make a list of the remaining items. The family gave ARF a deadline of Wednesday to let them into the building.
Instead, family members were told to stay away. Correia said the family had received a notice from ARF board president Greg McCoy, a Danville attorney, saying, “for reasons that should be obvious, the La Russa family will not be allowed on ARF property.”
In a statement, ARF was clearly taken aback by La Russa's claims, saying its leaders have been in “direct contact” with La Russa and he's “fully aware” that the organization is working to get his personal property back.
“Tony has communicated with ARF on several occasions this week in what have been very pleasant exchanges about how to arrange the pick-up of his personal property items in an orderly fashion, including details about property that he obtained specifically for ARF and would like to have remain in ARF's possession,” the statement said.
But Elaine La Russa portrayed the communication between her family and ARF as anything but pleasant because of the organization's hardline stance.
“I can't understand why ARF is making one of the most heartbreaking times of our lives even more painful by withholding some of our most sentimental belongings,” Elaine La Russa said.
In a cease and desist letter the family sent to ARF on March 3, the family also asked to have their names removed from the organization's signage and said they no longer wanted their “reputations” associated with the nonprofit.
Correia said ARF has already begun removing signage with the La Russa name from the building and scrubbed the La Russa name from its website and social media accounts. But Correia said ARF was given 90 days to complete those tasks.
The bitter fall-out between the La Russa family and ARF became known last week. On Monday, ARF said the parting of ways capped “30 years of a successful partnership” and was due to “ARF's evolution and response to today's challenges in animal welfare.”
La Russa hit back with a statement that claimed that the split wasn't at all amicable. “Compassion and care for animals is our family's passion,” La Russa, who retired from baseball in October, said in his statement. “But ARF's current leadership, policies and attitudes work against fulfilling its mission. We have concluded we must completely separate ourselves, our name and our reputation from ARF.”