Lawrence, William Michael (Bill)

26 Mar Lawrence, William Michael (Bill)

June 30, 1950  –  January 2, 2023

William Michael (Bill) Lawrence of Gaithersburg, Maryland, died peacefully, with his wife at his side, on January 2, 2023 at the Wilson Health Care Center of Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg.

He was born to Michael Lawrence (Laurinyecz) and Mary Frankovsky on June 30, 1950 in Astoria, Queens, New York. He was the beloved husband of Patricia Reidy Lawrence, wife of 47 years, and the loving father of Emily, Michael and daughter-in-law Kevan, and John. He was preceded in death by his infant son Matthew Paul. He delighted in the company of his grandsons Nolan and Rhett. He leaves behind his brother Robert Lawrence and wife Nadia, and many cousins from around the world.

Bill grew up in Baldwin, New York and attended the schools there. He graduated from SUNY at Buffalo as an industrial engineer and started his career with Hazeltine and Grumman on Long Island before moving to healthcare administration when he and Pat moved to Maryland. He had long tenures at Georgetown Hospital and the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC.

Bill was probably best known to his friends through his many varied hobbies and interests: woodworking, beer brewing, genealogy, and building guitars. Bill could, and did, fix anything. He constructed a darling teardrop trailer, in which he and Pat had many adventures camping. Friends all knew of his delicious brews and were the lucky recipients of “Free Beer Fridays!”. Bill was a founder of the beer judging event at the annual Montgomery County Agricultural Fair and ran it for 16 years. He won a Best In Show ribbon at the Fair for a guitar he had constructed. Genealogy led him to find and reconnect with cousins from Washington State to Texas and across the ocean to Hungary. He had the good fortune to be able to meet many of these cousins in person and establish continuing relationships with them. Bill was the host of his family’s annual kolbasz fesztival for many years, inspired by his desire to share his Hungarian heritage with friends.