Lovell Lawrence Jr. was a founding member of the American Rocket Society in the 1930s and erelong was named President in 1946. Between 1943 and 1941, Lawrence worked as assistant to the Chief Engineer of IBM. In 1941, Lawrence founded Reaction Motors, Inc. with John Shesta, James Wylde, and Hugh Franklin Pierce in order to secure an offered $5,000 Navy contract for rocket development. Reaction Motors, Inc. continued under the aegis of Lawrence until his departure in 1953 to pursue a variety of positions with Chrysler, culminating in his promotion to Chief Research Engineer in 1964.
