Dr. Walter Lawrence Jr.

1925 - 2021

LAWRENCE, Dr. Walter, Jr., died peacefully at his home in Richmond, Virginia, at the age of 96 on November 9, 2021. He was preceded in death by his parents, Walter and Violet; and by his wonderful, loving wife, Susan Shryock Lawrence. He is survived by his younger brother, Arthur Gene Lawrence; and four very accomplished children, Walter Thomas "Tom" Lawrence (Marsha), Elizabeth "Liz" Lawrence Wallingford (David), William Amos Lawrence and Edward "Ted" Gene Lawrence (Claudia D'Andrea). He and Susan had eight grandchildren of whom he was very proud, Susan Newell Wallingford, Sarah Wallingford McKee (James), Cody Thomas Lawrence (Lindsey Kreutzer), Rebecca "Becca" Wallingford Meier (Kyle), Travis Blake Lawrence, Elizabeth "Ellie" Francesca D'Andrea Lawrence, Vincenzo "Enzo" Walter D'Andrea Lawrence and Dario Amos D'Andrea Lawrence. His love for them all was exceeded only by his undying love for his late wife, Susan, whom he met at a freshman "mixer" in 1942 at the University of Chicago, married in June, 1947 and then enjoyed a very happy 72-year partnership.

After high school at Oak Park and River Forest High School, outside Chicago and 12 months of college at the University of Chicago, Walter served in the United States Navy during World War II in a non-combat role and as a V-12 Naval premedical and then medical student (1943 to 1946). He ultimately graduated from the University of Chicago School of Medicine in 1948, as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. After surgical training at Johns Hopkins Hospital (1948 to 1951), he served as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during the Korean War. In Korea, he was the Chief of Surgery of a MASH hospital (1952 to 1954), a role like that of Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series, M*A*S*H.

After his subsequent surgical fellowship training at Memorial-Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (1954 to 1956), he enjoyed three different surgical careers. The first was in New York City at Memorial-Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and Cornell Medical College, the second in multiple roles at the Medical College of Virginia (later Virginia Commonwealth University) and the third, after his official retirement, focused on medical education. He loved all three careers.

The highlights of career number one (1956 to 1966) were in both clinical and research activity at MSKCC. In 1963, he performed the first renal transplant in New York City, a factor leading to his recruitment to MCV/VCU. Career number two in Richmond, Virginia (1966 to 1990) began as Vice-Chair of Surgery and Chair of the first academic Division of Surgical Oncology in the United States at the Medical College of Virginia (MCV). He was extremely proud of developing a Division of Surgical Oncology and viewed this as one of the major accomplishments of his career. Later, he served in a number of roles at MCV/VCU, including that as the first Director of the NCI-accredited Massey Cancer Center (1974 to 1990), a position he held until his official "retirement" in 1990. Career number three (1990 to 2021), as Professor Emeritus at VCU, initially involved being Chair of the VCU School of Medicine Admissions Committee and included a primary focus on medical school teaching. Later, this portion of his career consisted entirely of medical student teaching at the McGuire VAMC.

His outside interests, besides his continued family involvement included his piano-accordion and frequent tennis matches with family and friends on his own court, as well as skiing in Colorado each winter.

His academic degrees included a Ph.B. (1943), S.B. (1945) and M.D. (1948) from the University of Chicago. Of the many awards he received during his career, those of which he was particularly proud included the Rufus Choate Scholar award from Dartmouth (1944) when a Navy V-12 student, the Alfred P. Sloan award in cancer research at MSKCC (1964), which led to a one-year sabbatical in England, a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Chicago (1976), the first Berkstrand Cancer Foundation Cancer Fighter of the Year Award (1999), a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Science Museum of Virginia (2002) and a number of flattering awards from VCU including Lifetime Achievement and Student Teaching Awards. He most recently received the prestigious Honorary Member Award of the American Society for Radiation Oncology in 2020.

Academic activity of note outside MCV/VCU included well over 300 publications of scientific articles, books and book chapters in his fields of interest. He filled multiple roles in the American College of Surgeons, including that of Chairman of the Commission on Cancer (1979 to 1981), as well as multiple roles in local, regional and national activities of the American Cancer Society (including President, 1991 to 1992). He particularly valued his memberships in the Society of Surgical Oncology (President, 1991 to 1992) and the Halsted Society (President, 1975 to 1976). He served as Director and Examiner for the American Board of Surgery, as Chair of the Surgery Test Committee of the National Board of Medical Examiners (1973 to 1977), on multiple Editorial activities for surgical journals and on multiple Committees at the National Institutes of Health (1966 to 2006), highlighted by a term on the National Cancer Advisory Board (1988 to 1994).

As he approached the end of life in his 90s, his major pleasures were his wonderful family, for whom he was most grateful.

The family will receive friends at a visitation at Bliley's Funeral Home on 3801 Augusta Ave., Richmond, Virginia on November 21, 2021, between 3 and 6 p.m.

Funeral services will be held at St. James Church, 1205 West Franklin Street, Richmond, Virginia, on November 22, 2021, at 11 a.m. (masks are required in the sanctuary). In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Massey Cancer Center at VCU.