Lawerence Lewis, Jr.
(1918-1995)

Died aged c. 77

Lawerence Lewis, Jr. was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, July 6, 1918. That same year he moved with his family to St. Augustine. He attended the University of Virginia. During the 1960s he rose from executive president to chairman of the Flagler Systems, a company formed by the merger of the Florida East Coast Hotel Company and the Model Land Company. Lewis established Flagler College, an independent liberal arts college in St. Augustine in 1968. The college is housed in the former Hotel Ponce de Leon, built by Henry Flagler in 1888. Renovation and transformation costs of the hotel as Flagler College totaled more than $14 million. This undertaking was planned and executed under the leadership of Lewis and was funded by him and the members of his family, the Flagler Foundation and the Kenan Charitable Trust. Lewis’ contributions to the college included scholarships, endowments and new buildings. Lewis was the president of both the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board and the St. Augustine Foundation. In 1995 Lewis was made an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects, the highest honor given to a non-architect by the organization. The University of Virginia later established the Lewis Chair in Architecture. Lawerence Lewis died in 1995.

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