Lawrence C. Gorman

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Lawrence C. Gorman

| alma_mater = {{unbulleted list |Fordham University (A.B.) |Boston College (M.A.) |Woodstock College (S.T.L.) |Pontifical Gregorian University (Ph.D.) }}

| predecessor = Arthur A. O'Leary

| office = List of presidents of Georgetown University{{!}}President of Georgetown University

| termend = 1949

| termstart = 1942

| order = 41st

| module = {{Infobox Christian leader

| child = yes

| ordination = June 21, 1932

| ordained_by = Pietro Fumasoni Biondi

}}

| resting_place = Jesuit Community Cemetery

| honorific_prefix = The Reverend

| death_place = Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1953|12|28|1898|09|28}}

| birth_place = New York City, United States

| birth_date = {{birth date|1898|09|28}}

| image = Lawrence C. Gorman 1943.png

| caption = Gorman in 1943

| alt = Portrait of Lawrence C. Gorman in 1943

| successor = J. Hunter Guthrie

| honorific_suffix = SJ

}}

Lawrence Clifton Gorman {{post-nominals|list=SJ}} (September 28, 1898 – December 28, 1953) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who held senior positions at several Jesuit universities in the United States. Born in New York City, he was educated at Jesuit institutions, before entering the Society of Jesus. He then became a professor of chemistry at Georgetown University, and continued his higher studies at Jesuit universities in the United States and Rome.

He became the acting dean of Georgetown College in 1935, and then vice president and dean of studies at Loyola College in Maryland, before being appointed president of Georgetown University in 1942. His tenure was largely shaped by World War II, which necessitated his admittance of women into the Graduate School of Arts and Science. A proponent of racial integration, he instructed administrators to admit the first black undergraduate students. While this did not materialize until shortly after his presidency, the university did begin admitting black students in several of its graduate schools during his term. He also joined the presidents of other local universities in agreeing to allow medical students from Howard University to train at Washington, D.C.'s public hospital.

During his presidency, Gorman constructed the new Georgetown University Hospital building, and raised funds for the construction of McDonough Gymnasium. Following the end of his term of office, he became vice president and dean of studies at the University of Scranton, where he died in 1953.

Early life and education

Lawrence Clifton Gorman was born on September 28, 1898, in New York City, to Lawrence P. Gorman and Anna Teresa Gorman, née Nagle.{{harvnb|Spencer|1998|p=19}}{{harvnb|Romig|1947|p=168}} He enrolled in Xavier High School (where he was later inducted into their hall of fame) and graduated in 1916,{{Cite web|url=http://www.xavierhsalumni.org/s/81/images/editor_documents/hall_of_fame_list_2012.pdf?sessionid=1861036a-4f8e-4b22-a99e-db6e59d0ae18&cc=1|title=The Xavier Hall of Fame|website=Xavier High School|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116143019/http://www.xavierhsalumni.org/s/81/images/editor_documents/hall_of_fame_list_2012.pdf?sessionid=1861036a-4f8e-4b22-a99e-db6e59d0ae18&cc=1|archive-date=January 16, 2019|access-date=January 16, 2019}} proceeding to Fordham University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1920. Upon graduation, he entered the Society of Jesus on September 28, 1920.{{Cite web|url=http://digitalservices.scranton.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p9000coll7/id/3547|title=Prayer card for Lawrence C. Gorman, S.J., 1952|website=University of Scranton|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116071813/http://digitalservices.scranton.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p9000coll7/id/3547|archive-date=January 16, 2019|access-date=January 16, 2019}} In 1926, he was awarded a Master of Arts from Boston College.

= Academic career =

That year, he was appointed an assistant professor of chemistry at Georgetown University, where he remained until 1929. He then went to Woodstock College in Maryland, where in 1932, he was ordained by Archbishop Pietro Fumasoni Biondi, the Apostolic Delegate to the United States, as a subdeacon on June 19, a deacon on June 20, and a priest on June 21. He celebrated his first Solemn Mass on July 3 in St. Philip Neri's Church in The Bronx.{{Cite news|url=http://digital.library.fordham.edu/digital/api/singleitem/image/pdf/RAM/2628/default.png|title=Alumni to be Ordained: Number to Receive Holy Offices During Next Month|date=May 12, 1932|work=The Fordham Ram|access-date=January 15, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115233044/http://digital.library.fordham.edu/digital/api/singleitem/image/pdf/RAM/2628/default.png|archive-date=January 15, 2019|issue=25|volume=13|page=9}} In 1933, he was awarded a Licentiate of Sacred Theology from Woodstock. He then returned to Georgetown in 1933, where he was made director of the department of chemistry.

Replacing George F. Strohaver, Gorman was named the acting dean of Georgetown College in 1935, until a permanent replacement was found in John E. Grattan.{{harvnb|Curran|2010|p=398|loc=Appendix C: Prefects of Studies/Deans of the College of Arts and Sciences, 1889–1964}} The following year, he became the vice president and dean of studies at Loyola College in Maryland, and held this position until 1942. During this time, he also completed his education at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he received his Doctor of Philosophy in 1938. Later in life, Gorman was eventually awarded an honorary Legum Doctor degree.{{harvnb|Senior Class of Georgetown University|1943|p=5}}

Georgetown University

File:Lawrence C. Gorman prayer card 1953.png

Gorman succeeded Arthur A. O'Leary as president of Georgetown University on December 17, 1942, upon being appointed by Zacheus J. Maher, the American assistant to the Jesuit Superior General.{{Cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/charleston-gazette-dec-18-1942-p-14/|title=Georgetown University Has New President|date=December 18, 1942|work=The Charleston Gazette|access-date=January 15, 2019|page=14|via=NewspaperArchive|url-access=limited}} The first half of his presidency was principally shaped by World War II; since so many male students had left to fight the war, Gorman decided to admit women to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, with the first eleven enrolling in 1943.{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|p=91}} That year, the university also began hosting an Army Specialized Training Program, focusing on instruction in engineering, languages, and area studies, and the Medical, Dental, and Nursing Schools created training programs with the Army and Navy.{{Harvnb|Curran|2010|p=221}}

On December 18, 1944, Gorman broke ground on the new Georgetown University Hospital, which was located on Reservoir Road and held 400 beds.{{harvnb|Proctor|1944|p=456}} In order to build the hospital, on March 24, 1945,{{harvnb|Repetti|1956|p=279}} President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a law granting a special exception to the Height of Buildings Act of 1910,{{USStatute|79|22|59|38}}{{harvnb|United States Government Monthly Catalog|1945|p=366}} which limits the height of buildings in the District of Columbia. The Georgetown University Hospital became one of seven buildings to have been specifically exempt from the height restrictions in the history of the law.{{harvnb|Part I: Historical Background on the Height of Buildings Act|2013|p=4}} In addition to construction of the hospital, Gorman undertook a campaign that raised the bulk of the funds necessary for the construction of McDonough Gymnasium, which broke ground in 1950.{{harvnb|Georgetown University Alumni Magazine|1953|p=5}}

File:Georgetownuniversityhospital.JPG

At the commencement ceremony of 1945, Gorman awarded President Harry S. Truman an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, and hailed him as the "chosen son of destiny" who was working to bring forth peace in the midst of World War II. Truman was unable to attend the ceremony, and sent Senator Dennis Chávez in his stead; an honorary doctorate was also awarded to Ross T. McIntire, the Surgeon General of the Navy.{{harvnb|Congressional Record|1945|p=A2908}} He also presented Crown Prince Abdul Ilah, the regent of the Kingdom of Iraq, with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.{{harvnb|Senior Class of Baghdad College|1945|p=Page of Honor}}

Gorman directed administrators in 1947 to include at least one black student in the following year's freshman class. The administrators did not follow this directive, but did begin to admit black students to the Graduate School, Medical School, and Law School. Eventually, in 1950, the first black undergraduate student was admitted to the School of Foreign Service.{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehoya.com/first-black-undergraduate-dies-2/|title=First Black Undergraduate Dies|last=Garbitelli|first=Elizabeth|date=March 15, 2012|work=The Hoya|access-date=January 15, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108022658/http://www.thehoya.com/first-black-undergraduate-dies-2/|archive-date=November 8, 2018}}

In 1948, along with the president of Howard University, Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, and Cloyd Heck Marvin, the president of George Washington University, Gorman signed an agreement allowing students and faculty from Howard University College of Medicine to practice at Gallinger Municipal Hospital on equal footing with Georgetown and George Washington. This agreement was then ratified by the District of Columbia Board of Commissioners.{{harvnb|National Negro Health News|1948|p=24}} Following the end of World War II, the number of students at Georgetown doubled. Gorman's presidency came to an end on February 18, 1949, and he was succeeded as president by J. Hunter Guthrie.{{harvnb|Tyler|1949|p=497}}

Later years

Following the end of his presidency at Georgetown, Gorman became vice president and dean of studies at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, where he was also a member of the board of trustees and the board of regents.{{harvnb|University of Scranton Catalog|1951|pp=7–8}} Gorman died suddenly of a heart attack on December 28, 1953, at the University of Scranton. His body was returned to Georgetown, where he was buried in the Jesuit Community Cemetery.

In 1959, Georgetown opened the Lawrence C. Gorman Diagnostic and Research Building on the Medical Center campus, which was used by medical and dental students. The building contained an outpatient dental department that doubled the number of patients the Dental School could treat.{{harvnb|Journal of the American Dental Association|1959|p=147}}

References

= Sources =

{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VXaGG1BtlBoC&pg=PA2908|title=Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 79th Congress, First Session: Appendix|publisher=Government Printing Office|year=1945|volume=91|location=Washington, D.C.|ref={{harvid|Congressional Record|1945}}|access-date=January 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115231012/https://books.google.com/books?id=VXaGG1BtlBoC&pg=PA2908%23v=onepage&q&f=false|archive-date=January 15, 2019|url-status=live|via=Google Books|issue=12}}
{{Cite book|title=A History of Georgetown University: The Quest for Excellence, 1889–1964|last=Curran|first=Robert Emmett|publisher=Georgetown University Press|year=2010|isbn=9781589016903|volume=2|location=Washington, D.C.}}
{{Cite magazine|date=January 1953|title=Father Gorman Dies|url=https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/709102/GUAMAG_1953_05-05st.pdf?sequence=1|magazine=Georgetown University Alumni Magazine|volume=5|issue=5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115233925/https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/709102/GUAMAG_1953_05-05st.pdf?sequence=1|archive-date=January 15, 2019|access-date=January 15, 2019|ref={{harvid|Georgetown University Alumni Magazine|1953}}|url-status=live}}
{{Cite journal|date=October–December 1948|title=Howard University Medical Personnel Enters Gallinger Hospital|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A8MgoS4yLHIC&pg=PA80|url-status=live|journal=National Negro Health News|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|volume=16|issue=4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115230316/https://books.google.com/books?id=A8MgoS4yLHIC&pg=PA80|archive-date=January 15, 2019|access-date=January 15, 2019|ref={{harvid|National Negro Health News|1948}}|via=Google Books}}
{{Cite journal|date=May 1959|title=News of Dentistry|journal=Journal of the American Dental Association|volume=58|issue=6|pages=136–155|doi=10.14219/jada.archive.1959.0130|ref={{harvid|Journal of the American Dental Association|1959}}|doi-access=free}}
{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=peQeOeO39JMC&pg=PA91|title=Georgetown University|last1=O'Neill|first1=Paul R.|last2=Williams|first2=Paul K.|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7385-1509-0|location=Charleston, South Carolina|access-date=January 8, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190109023012/https://books.google.com/books?id=peQeOeO39JMC&pg=PA91|archive-date=January 9, 2019|url-status=live|via=Google Books}}
{{Cite report|chapter-url=https://www.ncpc.gov/heightstudy/docs/Historical_Background_on_the_Height_of_Buildings_Act_(draft).pdf|title=Part I: Historical Background on the Height of Buildings Act|date=2013|access-date=September 26, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914152334/https://www.ncpc.gov/heightstudy/docs/Historical_Background_on_the_Height_of_Buildings_Act_(draft).pdf|archive-date=September 14, 2019|url-status=live|chapter=Part I (a): History of the Height of Buildings Act of 1910|ref={{harvid|Part I: Historical Background on the Height of Buildings Act|2013}}}}
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{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lr0SAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA168|title=The American Catholic Who's Who|last=Romig|first=Walter|publisher=Walter Romig|year=1947|volume=7|location=Grosse Pointe, Michigan|oclc=174071223|access-date=January 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115231712/https://books.google.com/books?id=lr0SAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA168|archive-date=January 15, 2019|url-status=live|via=Google Books}}
{{Cite journal|last=Senior Class of Baghdad College|date=1945|title=Page of Honor|url=https://crossworks.holycross.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1004&context=baghdadcoll|url-status=live|journal=El Iraqi: Baghdad College Yearbook|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115234846/https://crossworks.holycross.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&httpsredir=1&article=1004&context=baghdadcoll|archive-date=January 15, 2019|access-date=January 15, 2019|via=CrossWorks}}
{{Cite book|url=https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/559458/gt_yearbooks_1943_st.pdf?sequence=1|title=Ye Domesday Booke|last=Senior Class of Georgetown University|year=1943|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=January 16, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117015258/https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/559458/gt_yearbooks_1943_st.pdf?sequence=1|archive-date=January 17, 2019|url-status=live|via=Georgetown University Library}}
{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eLWao2lIGTEC&pg=PA19|title=Where They're Buried|last=Spencer|first=Thomas E.|publisher=Clearfield Publishing Co.|year=1998|isbn=0-8063-4823-2|location=Baltimore|access-date=July 23, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190723040035/https://books.google.com/books?id=eLWao2lIGTEC&pg=PA19|archive-date=July 23, 2019|url-status=live|via=Google Books}}
{{Cite journal|last=Tyler|first=Frederick S.|date=1949|title=Chronicler's Report for 1949|journal=Records of the Columbia Historical Society|volume=50|pages=490–535|jstor=40067345}}
{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SsFBAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA366|title=United States Government Monthly Catalog Issued by the Superintendent of Documents, Nos. 600–605|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|year=1945|location=Washington, D.C.|oclc=9743970|ref={{harvid|United States Government Monthly Catalog|1945}}|access-date=September 26, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926025506/https://books.google.com/books?id=SsFBAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA366|archive-date=September 26, 2019|url-status=live|via=Google Books}}
{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/undergraduatecat1951univ/page/n3|title=University of Scranton Catalog|publisher=University of Scranton|year=1951|location=Scranton, Pennsylvania|oclc=297537868|ref={{harvid|University of Scranton Catalog|1951}}|access-date=January 16, 2019|via=Internet Archive}}

External links

{{Find a Grave|86405425|name=Laurentius Clifton Gorman}}
{{Cite journal|last=Gorman|first=Lawrence C.|date=March 1945|title=Religion in Our Higher Education in Light of War Experience|journal=Christian Education|volume=28|issue=3|pages=190–201|jstor=41175084}}

{{s-bef

| before = George F. Strohaver

}}

{{s-ttl

| title = Acting Dean of Georgetown College

| years = 1934–1936

}}

{{s-aft

| after = John E. Grattan

}}

{{s-bef

| before = Arthur A. O'Leary