Dr. Knowles Lawrence Was Eminent Surgeon

Dr. Knowles B. Lawrence of North Hill in Needham died on Friday, May 10, at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston. He was 93.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., he was a Needham resident for 57 years and a summer resident of Oak Bluffs since 1926. He was the husband of Olive H. Lawrence, who died shortly before him on Friday, May 10, at the North Hill Skilled Nursing Facility in Needham.

Dr. Lawrence was graduated from Yale University and then from Yale Medical College in 1934. He was a board-certified general surgeon who served in the U.S. Army 6th General Hospital in North Africa and Italy during World War II.

He practiced surgery at Glover Memorial Hospital in Needham starting in 1947 and served as chief of surgery starting in 1968. He started the cancer management board at Glover Hospital. Dr. Lawrence also practiced at New England Baptist Hospital, the Veterans Hospital, Faulkner Hospital and Newton-Wellesley Hospital. He was an associate professor of surgery at Boston University Medical School, and authored 25 papers on surgical subjects, most of them related to cancer.

Dr. Lawrence was a past president of the Norfolk County Medical Society and a member of the New England Surgical Society. He volunteered as a surgeon at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti and the Frontier Nursing Service in Appalachia.

Following his retirement, he served for several years as the ship's surgeon at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. In later years, he volunteered with the Charles River Association for Retarded Citizens.

He is survived by his children, Judge Paul Lawrence and his wife, Jane, of Francetown, N.H.; Evelyne Lawrence of Louisville, Ky., and Susan Lawrence of Albany, N.Y.; his grandchildren, Damara Jenkins, Ira and Michael Van Irvin and Duncan and Jessica Lawrence, and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 8, at the Carter memorial Methodist Church in Needham Heights. A gathering of friends and family will follow the service.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Dr. Knowles B. Lawrence Education Fund for Doctors and Nurses, c/o Deaconess-Glover Hospital, 148 Chestnut street, Needham, MA 02492.