Laurence William Lane Jr. (November 7, 1919 – July 31, 2010) was an American magazine publisher, diplomat, and philanthropist.

Early life and education

Lane was born November 7, 1919, to Laurence William Lane (1890 – February 20, 1967) and Ruth Bell. His father was known as "Larry", so he was generally called "Bill". In 1928, the family moved from

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

where Larry Lane was advertising director for the

Meredith Corporation Meredith Corporation was an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, that owned newspapers, magazines, television stations, and websites. Its publications had a readership of more than 120 million and paid circulation of more than ...

(publisher of '' Better Homes and Gardens'' magazine) to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The Lane family owned and published ''

Sunset Sunset (or sundown) is the disappearance of the Sun at the end of the Sun path, below the horizon of the Earth (or any other astronomical object in the Solar System) due to its Earth's rotation, rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth, it ...

'' magazine. Lane graduated from

Palo Alto High School Palo Alto Senior High School (commonly referred to locally as "Paly") is a comprehensive public high school in Palo Alto, California. Operated by the Palo Alto Unified School District, the school is one of two high schools in the district, the ...

. Bill Lane attended

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...

before transferring to

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

to study

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

. He was a member of the Stanford Chaparral. After graduating with a bachelor's degree from Stanford, he joined the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Lane married Donna Jean Gimbel in 1955. They met while she was working as an interior designer in Chicago.

Career

As their father phased himself out of the business, Bill took over the Sunset Magazine publishing and brother Melvin (1922–2007) managed the Sunset Books business. Lane was the first mayor and one of the founders of

Portola Valley, California Portola Valley is an incorporated List of municipalities in California, town in San Mateo County, California, United States. Located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area, Portola Valley is a small, wealthy com ...

in 1964. From 1975 to 1976, he served as US

Ambassador-at-large An ambassador-at-large is a diplomat, a secretary of state, secretary, or a minister (government), minister of the highest rank who is accredited to represent a country and its people internationally. Unlike an ambassador-in-residence, who is us ...

and lived in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. From 1985 to 1989, he was appointed

US Ambassador Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated by the president to serve as the United States' diplomatic representatives to foreign nations, international organizations, and as ambassadors-at-large. Under Article II, Section 2 of th ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

Nauru Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia subregion of Oceania, with its nearest neighbour being Banaba (part of ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

knew Lane from their membership in the Los Rancheros Vistadores horseback riding club. The Lane publishing business was sold to

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

in 1990. In March 1993 he was appointed an honorary officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

for service to Australian-American relations. In 1995, Lane was named Conservationist of the Year by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). In 2006, Lane received the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration's Pugsley Medal in 2006 because of his contributions to parks and conservation with advocacy through his magazine, leadership positions on a host of national and regional boards and advisory committees, and personal philanthropy.

Philanthropy, death and legacy

The Lane family were large donors to Stanford University including renovations in 1983 to the Palo Alto Stock Farm Horse Barn and after the

1989 Loma Prieta earthquake On October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. Pacific Time Zone, PST, the Loma Prieta earthquake occurred at the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz Cou ...

, for the reconstruction of the Stanford Memorial Church and other historic campus buildings. In 2005, a donation to Stanford University named the ''Center for the Study of the North American West'' department after the Lane family. Lane, with a long interest in aviation, was a founding member of the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, CA. The Lanes sponsored an internship program starting in 2002, the Bill and Jean Lane Internship Endowment at the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. In 2005, Lane and his wife (who graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in 1952) funded the Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance. In 2015, an additional $5 million endowment to

was announced. With a large donation to the

UC Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located in Monterey Bay ...

Arboretum, the Lanes established the Jean and Bill Lane Botanical Library in 1994, a non-lending library focusing on South African, Australian, New Zealand, and California plants. Bill and Jean Lane endowed the Lane Family Lectureship in Environmental Science at

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

. The lecture was inaugurated in 1993. With their son, Robert, a 1983 WSU graduate, they also created the Robert Lane Fellowship in Environmental Science to support graduate students studying environmental science at Washington State University. Bill Lane died on July 31, 2010, at the age of 90. His wife, Jean Lane, died in Portola Valley on November 18, 2017, after a brief illness, at the age of 87. Together they were survived by their three children, daughters Sharon Louise Lane and Brenda Lane Munks, and son Robert Laurence Lane.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Laurence William Jr. 1919 births 2010 deaths Businesspeople from Des Moines, Iowa People from Portola Valley, California American publishers (people) Mayors of places in California Ambassadors of the United States to Australia Ambassadors of the United States to Nauru Stanford University alumni Deaths from respiratory failure Honorary officers of the Order of Australia Palo Alto High School alumni Pomona College alumni 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American diplomats