H. Lawrence Wilsey

1923 - 2017

H. Lawrence Wilsey
August 17, 1923 - October 3, 2017
Pebble Beach
H. Lawrence Wilsey, one of the most prolific management consultants of the 20th Century, died October 3, 2017, at his Pebble Beach residence; having endured a long illness, he was 94 years old. Lawrence's ancestors crossed the Atlantic in the 1600s and settled in the East, but repeatedly moved westward, including a stay in New Harmony, Indiana, before following the Overland Trail to California. A fourth-generation Californian, Harry Lawrence Wilsey was born on August 17, 1923, in Montague, to Theodore Lawrence Wilsey and Viola Louise DeMuth Wilsey. Lawrence grew up in the Sierra Nevada, where his father became a lumber executive, and in Pasadena, with his mother, a survivor of the San Francisco Earthquake.
At the University of Southern California, Lawrence met Luana Esther Jones when the two of them became co-editors of the USC yearbook; Lawrence and Luana spent almost 70 years together, until her death in 2012. At age 20, Lawrence graduated from USC and headed east with his bride to spend the rest of World War II as a Navy officer in Norfolk, Virginia. Lawrence then earned his A.M. from USC and Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University, and returned to California to become Assistant Dean at USC's School of Business and assistant professor of finance.
Lawrence soon became an officer of the U.S. Foreign Service, moving to Oslo to help implement the Marshall Plan in Norway; then moving to Manila to oversee industrial, educational and medical reforms in the Philippines; and then moving to Washington D.C. as Chief of the China Division of the Agency for International Development.
In 1955 Lawrence joined Booz, Allen & Hamilton, the Chicago-headquartered company that pioneered management consulting, and the Wilsey Family moved to Evanston, Illinois, and then Lake Forest, Illinois, while Lawrence served a multitude of diverse clients across four continents: industrial corporations, commercial banks, national development banks, government agencies, hospitals, medical schools, public school systems, universities, museums, performing arts organizations, charitable foundations, religious organizations, and more. Lawrence cherished a decades-long association with the Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, which culminated in Lawrence's writing the two-volume history of the Center: "How We Care – The Centennial History of Baylor University Medical Center and Baylor Health Care System".
Tired of transoceanic commuting, in 1976 Lawrence accepted the opportunity to become Vice Chancellor of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, where he was chief operating officer of the University and provided a plan for the University's future growth. Lawrence next took on the challenge of heading the Lakewood Bank and Trust Company, the largest independent commercial bank in Dallas. Lawrence orchestrated the Bank's growth and sale, and then led the creation of Dallas's Crown Charter National Bank, where Lawrence also engineered its growth and sale before semi-retiring to Pebble Beach in 1985. Even in retirement, Lawrence continued to serve a few select clients around the country, and close to home, he prepared and donated comprehensive development plans to the Carmel Bach Festival and the Del Monte Forest Foundation (now Conservancy).
Over the years, Lawrence and Luana designed and built lovely residences, both for themselves and for others, in Illinois, Colorado, Texas and California, the last of which is their beloved Chesa Madrisa mountain home near the Big Trees of California's Calaveras County. Lawrence also enjoyed reading, hiking, driving his classic Mercedes-Benz, skiing, fine dining, cooking, painting (Lawrence's maternal grandfather was a portrait artist in London and San Francisco), opera, tennis, and the family's many pets; he especially enjoyed visiting with friends and family.
Lawrence was a member of the University Club of Chicago; the Glen View Club in Golf, Illinois; The Fort Worth Club; the Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth; the Van Cliburn Competition; The Dallas Petroleum Club; the Board of The Dallas Opera; the Pacheco Club in Monterey; The Beach and Tennis Club in Pebble Beach; and Pebble Beach's Church In The Forest, of which Lawrence and Luana were charter members.
Lawrence was preceded in death by his wife Luana, his parents, his younger brother Richard Vernon Wilsey, and his younger sister, Gloria King. Lawrence is survived by his daughter, Kathryn Lerch of Indianapolis (husband Keith) and their children: Lawrence's grandson Spencer Lawrence Lerch of Indianapolis (wife Elizabeth) and their son, Griffin, and daughter, Madeleine; and Lawrence's granddaughter Hillary Hayden Gibson of Portland, Oregon (husband Mark) and their son, Jackson. Lawrence is also survived by his younger brother, Dr. Carl Edwin Wilsey, of Carmel Valley; nephews and nieces, especially David Wilsey of Pacific Grove, Diane Wilsey of Monterey, and Richard Wilsey of Denver, Colorado, and their families; and by the Wilsey Family's "Guardian Angel", their friend Harold Gabriel, of Pebble Beach.
A memorial gathering will be held at the Church In The Forest, Pebble Beach, in late March 2018.
Donations in memory of Dr. H. Lawrence Wilsey may be made to any of the following: Animal Friends Rescue Project (Pacific Grove, CA), the Sierra Nevada Logging Museum (White Pines, CA), Church In The Forest (Pebble Beach, CA), Del Monte Forest Conservancy (Pebble Beach, CA), the Alzheimer's Association, or your favorite charity.


View the online memorial for H. Lawrence Wilsey