General George J. Lawrence, Sr. (1881-1949) was an athlete, soldier, doctor, and civic leader whose extraordinary military service and 40-year medical career made him a leader in the Flushing community. Along with his father and a son, he was a part of three generations of doctors from the same family who all practiced at Flushing Hospital.

Born on June 25, 1881, to Mary Margaret (Fuller) Lawrence and Dr. Enoch Pink Lawrence, he grew up in Flushing. He attended St. Francis College in Brooklyn, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in 1902. He then attended the University of Pennsylvania where he excelled as an athlete, serving as captain of the basketball team and a star quarterback on the football team. In 1907, he graduated with a medical degree, and the same year, he married Olivia Josephine Blaber. The couple settled in Flushing, and together they had 10 children.

Lawrence spent his medical career working at Flushing Hospital where he headed the obstetrics and gynecology departments. He served as the first president of the Queens Surgical Society and as president of the board at Flushing Hospital. For a period, he worked with his son, George J. Lawrence, Jr., who was himself an attending ob-gyn physician of Flushing Hospital from 1940 to 1974.

In addition to his medical career, Lawrence served for many years in the military, beginning in 1908 when he joined the Flushing National Guard. By 1911, he was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant in the 12th Regiment Medical Corps. He received two silver stars for his valor in combat in World War I, having been stationed in France as part of the 69th Infantry Regiment, also known as the “Fighting 69th.” At the end of the war, he earned the title of Lieutenant Colonel, and by the end of World War II, he had received the highest promotion to General. He continued to serve veterans as a State Commander of the American Legion and as First Commander of the Leonard Legion Post in Flushing, and he also served as a vice president of the Flushing Savings Bank.

Lawrence died on November 9, 1949, at his home in Flushing. The Brooklyn Eagle noted that approximately 2,000 people attended a requiem mass in his honor at St. Andrew Avellino Roman Catholic Church. A local law named the park in his honor in 1950. Lawrence Triangle is located in Flushing at the intersection of Parsons Boulevard and 147th Street, between Elm Avenue and 45th Avenue. It is across the street from Flushing Hospital and a short walk from the home where Lawrence lived at the time of his death.