Larry Gates is a Client Advocate at Danziger & De Llano, LLP. His father was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 1999 after decades of workplace asbestos exposure at a Pasadena, Texas refinery. Larry now helps other families navigate the same diagnosis his family received.
Background
Larry was born and raised near the refineries of Pasadena, Texas. His father worked at Shell, trained as an instrument technician and chemical operator. Like most workers of his generation in the petrochemical industry, his father was exposed to asbestos as a routine part of his job. The companies that employed him knew about the dangers. They did not tell him.
Larry attended Sam Rayburn High School and earned a degree from Sam Houston State College. He played varsity football, baseball, and tennis. After graduation, he opened his own business.
In 1999, his father was diagnosed with mesothelioma. The family had no awareness of the asbestos exposure at his workplace, and no awareness that the disease they were seeing had a known cause and a known liability. The diagnosis was followed by months of decline. The family could only watch.
The experience changed Larry’s professional direction. He now works at Danziger & De Llano as a Client Advocate, helping other mesothelioma families navigate the medical, legal, and financial complexities his own family did not have the information to handle.
What Larry does
As a Client Advocate, Larry’s role is to be the family-side voice in the legal and trust fund process. He works with mesothelioma patients and their families to:
- Translate legal and medical information into plain language for families who are overwhelmed
- Coordinate between treating physicians, the legal team, and the family on matters that affect both medical and legal decisions
- Help identify the asbestos exposure history that supports both VA claims and trust fund claims
- Provide support and continuity through what is typically a 2 to 5 year process from diagnosis through settlement
Larry has personal experience with what families face. His role is to make sure the family does not feel alone with the paperwork, the medical decisions, or the grief.
Larry’s role at Mesothelioma Funds Administration
Larry serves as a content reviewer for the family-side and lived-experience material on Mesothelioma Funds Administration. The pages he reviews include the caregiver pillar, the family support guide, and trust fund content. He does not review medical content; that is reviewed separately by our medical reviewer.
His review focuses on whether the content reflects what families actually face in the months following a mesothelioma diagnosis. If material on this site rings false to a family member of a mesothelioma patient, that is a problem we want to fix.
Contact
Larry can be reached through Danziger & De Llano at 1-866-222-9990, or through the Mesothelioma Funds Administration intake line at (800) 763-9692.
Bio source: dandell.com/advocates/larry-gates. Photo used with permission of Danziger & De Llano, LLP. Last reviewed: 2026-05-07.