Again according to Douglas Keister:

William Van Duzer Lawrence was born on a farm outside Elmira, New York. His parents, Robert D. Lawrence and Catherine Van Duzer Lawrence, both came from prominent Dutch-American families. At age 19, William went to work in the family’s pharmaceutical business and quickly rose through the ranks. He amassed a considerable fortune in both the pharmaceutical and real estate business. At the turn of the nineteenth century, he built a suburban housing development called Lawrence Park in Bronxville, New York. The development catered to the upper middle class, and because of its semirural setting, it was attractive to established painters, sculptors, and literary types. The artistic aura of the place must have rubbed off on Lawrence. In later life, he started making contributions to a variety of institutions. His most well known outpouring of wealth was in 1926 when he founded Sarah Lawrence College after the death of his wife, Sarah Lawrence (1846-1925). The centerpiece of his large plot at Kensico is a semicircular low neo-Gothic wall with a throne-like arch. The plot is peppered with the graves of members of the extended Lawrence family.

Taken with a Sony NEX 5N and Sigma 30mm f2.8

Leave a Reply