Br. Lawrence David

Brother Lawrence David's first teaching assignment was in 1907 at Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis, Missouri, his alma mater. Two years later he was assigned to De la Salle Institute, Chicago, Illinois, a school in which he was destined to spend a quarter of a century at various periods as Director and Principal. In 1910 he returned to the Novitiate as Sub-Director and the following year he began a tenure of thirteen years at De La Salle, Chicago. It was under his leadership that the first science courses were taught and the first North Central Association recognition was received. He initiated the construction of the new faculty residence for the Brothers in 1922. From 1925 to 1927 he was Director of De La Salle High School in Joliet, Illinois, but returned to De La Salle, Chicago in 1927 and presided over the construction of the new library and gymnasium dedicated in 1929. 1930 saw Brother Lawrence David assuming the direction of Saint George High School in Evanston, Illinois. Six years later he was to return to his beloved De La Salle, Chicago for his third tenure there. His former student, Mayor Richard J. Daley, did everything he could to help Brother Lawrence David. In 1941 Brother Lawrence was sent as Director and to serve as the 11th President of Christian Brothers College (1941-1947) in Memphis, Tennessee, where they had just moved to the new campus on East Parkway. In 1947 he was transferred to St. Mary's College in Winona, Minnesota, but returned to Memphis in 1950 to begin his semi-retirement. On February 1, 1955, after returning to the Brothers' Residence following a student basketball game, he died. He was seventy-three years old and in his fiftieth year as a De la Salle Christian Brother.