Lawrence and I worked together in a group of community newspapers serving Lower Manhattan. I was the founding editor of Gay City News, while Lawrence launched Chelsea Now. His coverage area was Manhattan’s Lower West Side, a market already served by competing publications, and Lawrence and his reporters worked aggressively and shrewdly to win credibility with key decision-makers in the neighborhoods—elected officials, community board members, block associations, and major non-profits and businesses—so that Chelsea Now quickly built a loyal readership with its fair and insightful coverage of pressing issues.

Lawrence covered his neighborhoods with remarkable empathy and understanding, the time and care he put into editing his reporters’ work was impressive, and I was not alone in recognizing his good work: In the paper’s second year, the New York Press Association recognized a multi-part Chelsea Now news series for an excellence award. Lawrence was also a team player: Though the group’s papers in a sense were competitors, he repeatedly chose collaboration over credit-claiming by planning coverage with me and sharing Chelsea Now pieces so our papers could best serve our overlapping readerships. In my more than 20 years as a newspaper editor, I found Lawrence to be, without a doubt, the most reliable, supportive and smartest colleague I’ve ever had.

Paul Schindler | Editor, Gay City News

When Lawrence came to Rutgers-Newark in 2011 to organize a communications plan for the College of Arts & Sciences, he brought to his job admirable skills that he’d honed working for magazines and editing a weekly newspaper in the Chelsea section of Manhattan: a reporter’s feel for detail and an editor’s grasp of the big picture that surrounds a community. Over the years, he put these to good use as he developed our communications capacities and strengthened our web presence. With his M.A. in American History, he grasps the importance of what scholars do. With his talents as a writer, editor and photographer, he conveys academic work to a broad public without dumbing it down. And he is equally at home with the editorial and technical aspects of work on the Web, having overseen the launch of the college's website after arriving: He was the sole point-person for the entire college and more than once kindly saved me from problems in my own work online.

Over time, between reporting and managing the communications operation, Lawrence emerged as one of the "faces" of the college and became widely known and admired on campus and among editors and communications managers at our main campus in New Brunswick—all of which was key to his building our capacity to get Arts & Sciences stories to a broader audience and increase the college's visibility. An institution builder and conscientious craftsman, Lawrence is generous with his time and abilities and a pleasure to work with. Any news org or communications operation would be lucky to have him.

Robert Snyder | Professor Emeritus (Rutgers-Newark) + Manhattan Borough Historian

I managed Lawrence when we worked together on the live national radio show The Takeaway, a co-production of PRI and WNYC, NYTimes, BBC and WGBH. He started as a web producer before joining my newswriting team, which was a challenging role in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment. Lawrence was new to radio and embraced the challenge, working hard to assimilate reams of information and develop new broadcast-writing and audio-editing skills as quickly as possible. He took instruction well, spent extra time with editors and writers to learn the craft, and contributed great work to our team. I’d recommend him without reservation.

Rob Hugh-Jones | Editor, BBC World Service + former Managing Editor, The Takeaway (WNYC)

Working with Lawrence was one of the best experiences of my professional life. As Editor, he hired me as the sole full-time reporter for Chelsea Now, a new weekly newspaper covering the West Side of Manhattan. Amid a job that required coverage of much that was seemingly mundane (community boards? zoning?), he and I brainstormed stories with real impact about the larger forces affecting the lives of those in our coverage area: I'm still deeply proud of our award-winning multipart series on illegal hotels (years before AirBnB), the hazardous conditions for NYPD-held protesters during the 2004 GOP National Convention, and the challenges and triumphs of female inmates at Chelsea’s Bay View Correctional Facility. And when my pieces fell short, Lawrence would work with me until they shone, teaching me more about story structure and editing than some of my classes at Columbia Journalism School. His photographer’s eye also helped sharpen our pages, as did his own hard-hitting reporting and editorials, and his deft managing style of the many freelancers and interns who also graced our pages. I'd work with Lawrence again in a heartbeat, and I know that his best is yet to come.

Chris Lombardi | Journalist + Author

I first met Lawrence while working the 9/11 disaster for FEMA in New York City. I was an External Affairs Officer, and Lawrence came on board as a new Public Affairs Officer and got right into the flow, learning FEMA policies quickly and becoming a valued member of our team. He drafted news releases and media advisories, shot photos (including at Ground Zero), and sat in on daily media-strategy sessions as we brainstormed talking points for reporters. After serving on 9/11, we also deployed together on a separate storm-related disaster in Central New York, where, besides his other duties, Lawrence gave on-camera interviews with local TV stations, outlining FEMA’s policies for those affected by the storm. Through it all, Lawrence was a fun, reliable colleague who asked good questions, collaborated beautifully, and was just a pleasure to work with.

Carol Hector-Harris | External Affairs Officer (FEMA) + Consultant

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