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A local photographer who recently disappeared has been found dead in Nogales, Sonora.

Larry Lurie, a fixture on school photo days in Tucson for nearly 30 years, was found dead in a hotel room about 2 1/2 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border, said Alejandro Palacios, a spokesman for the city of Nogales, Sonora. Authorities believe he took his own life.

Lurie's disappearance became news earlier this week when the principal of at least one middle school sent a letter home to parents, letting them know that the Tucson Unified School District had been unable to locate the photographer.

His disappearance left hundreds of families that bought school photos in the lurch, and some schools scrambling to figure out how to complete their yearbooks with no photographs.

Lurie's daughter, Aimee Lurie, a sales representative who lives in Denver, Colo., said the family is attempting to locate all of the photos and order forms for families who purchased photo packets. The family has been having a hard time operating Lurie's high-tech equipment, she said, but is working with a local photo lab to try to retrieve the images from his computer.

TUSD is not offering to reimburse parents, who generally spent anywhere from $11 to $33 for the packages.

Rob Ross, the district's attorney, said the parents contracted directly with Lurie, not with TUSD.

Lurie didn't win a bid to do the work. He contracted directly with the schools he worked with. In exchange for being able to sell his product, he provided the school with yearbook and student identification photos for free.

Jones Photo donated $3,000 worth of processed photos to two schools, even though Lurie didn't pay the company for the work.

Bill Katzel, a retired civil servant, urged district representatives Tuesday to make good on the parents' purchases. "You've got a small business stepping up to the plate and the district really needs to step up to the plate. Parents should not be put in double jeopardy," he said.

Aimee Lurie said her father was suffering from severe arthritis but loved being a popular fixture around town.

"I think there's two degrees to Larry in Tucson," she said, referring to the popular game in which players try to get to actor Kevin Bacon in six steps.

"Growing up in Tucson, it was such a burden that my dad was Larry Lurie because no matter what I did or where I went, someone would tell me a story of him. As I got older, I learned to respect how much he was a part of Tucson."

Lurie said her father loved traveling, especially to beaches, and, as a transplant from New York, loved the Yankees.

In addition to his daughter, he is survived by his wife, Teresa, and his son, Adam.