Rhoda Lawrence

Rhoda Greenwald Lawrence, formerly of Silver Spring, Maryland, passed away peacefully on December 18, 2025, at the age of 94. She was the proud daughter of Hungarian immigrants who arrived in the United States in the early 1900s, and the step-daughter of a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Her parents, husband (Leonard), and brother (Marvin) predeceased her.

Although her parents had limited education and humble roots, Rhoda had a thirst for learning and the fortitude to overcome many obstacles to achieve professional success. Just prior to Rhoda’s turning 18, her mother tragically passed away from cancer. Rhoda moved out of her family home and enrolled in college while independently supporting herself. She graduated from Brooklyn College in 1952 and from Brooklyn Law School in 1957 at a time when there were very few women attorneys in the legal profession. She was one of three women in her law school class and she earned the respect of her peers to become the class president. After law school, she passed the New York Bar Exam, perhaps the hardest of all fifty states, and became a member of the New York Bar. Her grit, academic success, and intellect were all traits that were favorably noticed by another lawyer who would become her husband and who would eventually become a judge.

Rhoda enjoyed a long and successful career as an Assistant General Counsel for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and was a widely respected expert on federal personnel law. Importantly, she balanced her career as an attorney with the job that she considered to be her most important: being an excellent mother to her three children who survive her: Andrew (Laura), Rosanne, and Victor (Agi). She had six grandchildren who also survive her: Trent, Sierra, Casey, Vienna, Daniel, and Jette.

In addition to being remembered as a trailblazer for women lawyers in government, Rhoda will be remembered for her love of classical music, opera, and the performing arts. She will also be remembered for her leadership skills, having led several nonprofit organizations and clubs during her lifetime, including organizations serving autistic children and adults - a cause to which she was deeply devoted.

Rhoda was an avid traveler both before and after retirement; she traveled to over 60 countries during her lifetime. She particularly enjoyed visiting Hungary where she could spend time with her extended family and speak the language her parents had spoken in the family home during her youth.

A private interment will occur at Judean Gardens in Olney, Maryland. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to support its important mission.