Police said he fell at the barn of the elephants’s home, Hope Elephants.
He established the home with his brother in 2011, decades after he worked as an elephant handler at a travelling circus.
Hope Elephants’ board said in a statement: “Jim’s passion for all animals, but especially elephants, was boundless,”
Laurita also worked with elephants at the Bronx Zoo and at Wildlife Safari in Oregon, according to the Portland Press-Herald newspaper.
On Tuesday, Maine officials found Laurita unresponsive at the facility, 87 miles (140km) north-east of Portland.
He had apparently fallen and struck his head on a concrete floor before an elephant stepped on his chest.
“The elephant was not aggressive in any way. It was clearly an accident,” said Mark Belserene, of the Maine state medical examiner’s office.
Mr Belserene added Laurita’s official cause of death was “asphyxiation and multiple fractures caused by compression of the chest”.
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