Larry Liebman

Larry Liebman was born on January 19, 1947, in the Bronx in New York. As he grew, he began playing different sports and fell in love with tennis. Then he moved to Bayside in Queens, NY. Larry was very well loved and very involved in tennis in every community he lived in. He was a business partner of Alley Pond Indoor Tennis Center and owned Tennis Emporium in Great Neck, NY. He then was asked to be the first head stringer at the new location of the US Open in Flushing, NY in 1976 while his beautiful wife, Lois modeled for Ferron’s tennis store located at the US Open.

In 2018, Larry and his wife, Lois, moved to Boynton Beach, Florida to the Valencia Lakes community. He was asked to be the chairman of the tennis committee for their community because of his love for people and tennis. Larry was a friend and advocate for tennis and pickleball at Valencia Lakes. He played a major role in getting the pickleball courts built and now there is an active Pickleball program in their community.

Larry and a group of tennis committee members, called the “Tennis Grandparents” from Valencia Lakes, wanted to give back to the sport and help autistic children learn and play tennis. Larry’s best friend’s nephew had autism and it pulled on Larry’s heartstring to teach tennis to autistic children. Larry contacted Dustin Forman who was the Tennis Service Representative for Palm Beach County. Dustin contacted Lisa Pugliese, the Founder and CEO of Love Serving Autism, an organization “Serving Autism On and Off the Tennis Court”. Captivated by Larry’s enthusiasm and passion to learn how to teach autistic children, Dustin and Lisa taught Larry and his committee members how to work with autistic children. With Dustin and Lisa’s continued help, Larry then started a Tennis Program at Park Vista Community High School in Palm Beach County. Both Lisa and Dustin said that if it wasn’t for Larry and his passion for autism and tennis the program would have never been successful. He ran this program for 2 years until the kids graduated and then Covid hit. Teaching Tennis at Park Vista Community High School.

Unfortunately, during Covid, Larry became ill. He was a Naval Vietnam Vet and had been exposed to Agent Orange. Larry also assisted with the 9/11 search and rescue teams after the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York. Again, he was exposed to lethal chemicals from that debris. Due to all that inhalation, he struggled for years with pulmonary/lung issues and died unexpectedly on April 8th, 2022.

To carry on Larry’s legacy and in Larry’s memory this Scholarship Fund was created to help players join and participate in the Love Serving Autism program. Your donation will help children with Autism to enjoy and learn how to play tennis, a sport of a lifetime.