I remember Philip, or Scott as many folks knew him then, from many decades ago when he and his family attended the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greensboro.  He was a pleasant fellow, happy to provide tours of his winery to those who were interested. Due to the distance and his limited vision, Scott had been unable to attend services for many years. The last time I saw him, Scott came to a memorial service for another member. We spoke about old times and Scott mentioned that he still had a bit of memorabilia that he wanted to donate: a small, wooden replica of the church at our old location. For a while, we emailed back and forth about logistics related to the carved replica, but then lost contact. I was surprised and saddened to learn that he recently passed away. My condolences to his family and friends.

I'm very sorry to hear of Scott's passing.  I was a graduate student of his from 1991 to 1997 and I feel very blessed to have been mentored by him.  Scott believed in me and supported me throughout my graduate work at UNCG, and his professional and intellectual spirit lives on in the work I do as a faculty member at Loyola University Maryland.  I cannot overstate how positively he impacted me both as a psychologist and as a human being. 
--Matthew Kirkhart, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Loyola University Maryland

Scott was a great friend.  We shared a mutual passion for growing grapes and making wine and worked together for many years in viticulture.

He served for many years as President of the North Carolina Winegrowers Association and was a pioneer in the wine growing industry. No person contributed more than Scott to the cause of viticulture in our state.

He was a kind, compassionate  and caring sole who always looked to the best in everyone and took great pride in mentoring his students at UNC-G .

The world is a better place because he graced us with his life.

Larry Somers
Reidsville, NC

It’s hard to formulate in words the depth and breath of the impact Dr Lawrence has made on my life and career. He willingly accepted the role of advising and mentoring me, the first deaf psychology candidate at UNCG, during a time when the total of psychologists who are Deaf were numbered less than there are states in the USA. He was part of an amazing group of sincere, dedicated professors whose close-knit collaborations fostered us students and well-prepared us for our work, a fact that was made obvious during pre-doc internships as compared to other interns from elsewhere! His easy-going, laid-back manner and confidence infused mine. I’ll always remember our times together during multiple conference trips including the quick stop to see the human-like Bonobo apes at the Cincinnati zoo! His grasp and work in the field of behavioral psychology was astute and impactful. He was such an open, curious, joyful and interesting person. He created his own wines which won awards at the NC State Fair! I recall him reassuring a student who was feeling adrift that he himself had changed his major four times before settling on behavioral psychology. But what I cherish most is his friendship, his laugh, and his ease in joining us at various home gatherings, restaurants, pubs and his delightful winery tours of NC! I am so grateful to have known him and I will miss him so much!

Julianne Gold Brunson, PH.D, HSP-P
Clinical Psychologist
RHA Behavioral Health, Inc,
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Unit

Scott was a wonderful colleague and friend, beginning with our time together as graduate students at Arizona State University (1965-69) and continuing as faculty colleagues in the Psychology Department at UNCG. We shared overlapping interests in the analysis of behavior, which led to collaborating on several papers and a book chapter. Scott’s deep knowledge and intellectual rigor come through clearly in these publications as well as in his teaching and professional activities. For many years he and I held weekly lab-group sessions—meetings where we and the students who worked with us on our research projects got together to discuss relevant scientific and philosophical papers and research ideas. Discussions often were lively.  Scott’s contributions were consistently insightful, sometimes critical, but always expressed with good cheer, in a manner that supported and encouraged students’ development. Versions of these meetings continued after Scott retired, first in a little alcove at UNCG and later, triggered by the Covid pandemic, via Zoom. The group became smaller with the lack of students, but then grew to include colleagues from UNC-Chapel Hill and, with Zoom, colleagues from around the country.  Scott was eagerly engaged in these discussions until declining health over the past few years took its toll. Scott was great fun to work with. I remember several occasions when our lab group would spend a long session engaged in hard intellectual work trying to understand some theoretical analysis or designing a workable methodology for a research project. And then later, we would follow Scott in a small caravan of cars through the NC wine country to the north and west of Winston-Salem. Scott knew all the players at the various winery stops, knew their goals and methods, and knew which wines to pay particular attention to. These were lovely afternoons, great memories. I will miss Scott but am so glad to have known and worked with him.

Scott Lawrence had a profoundly positive impact on my life. It is no exaggeration to say I would not be where I am today without him. It started when he accepted me into the clinical psychology program at UNCG in the mid-1990s. I still feel his influence to this day. I remember my interview with him. His office a bit of a mess, his questions gentle but probing, his mischievous smile, and his laugh (which as students we thought was kind of like Kermit the Frog) contagious. As an advisor, he was a model of kindness and encouragement. To this day, I sometimes channel him when interacting with my own students. Scott was a willing collaborator. I think of his collegiality when I have urges to be proprietary with my students. His lab, co-run with Rick Shull, gave me a thorough-going conceptual approach to understanding behavior, and, along with Rosemery Nelson-Gray, the necessary methodological skills to study psychotherapy outcomes. These experiences set the foundation for my career. Scott introduced me to behavioral activation, functional analytic psychotherapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy – approaches that have driven the research, training, and interventions I have been engaged in for the past 30 years. In 1995 Scott gave a presentation at SEABA (where he was the longstanding treasurer) on the behavior of the psychotherapist. To illustrate how a stimulus might have multiple influences across response systems (feeling, thinking, & acting) he described seeing a rainbow and pulling off the road to engage in the integrated behavior he summarized as appreciating the rainbow. Scott Lawrence was a rainbow in my life. I appreciate his influence deeply.
Sincerely,
Scott Gaynor
Professor
Western Michigan University

Scott Lawrence -- my longtime colleague and friend.  Scott was the first faculty member hired into a brand-new doctoral program in clinical psychology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) in 1970.  I was the second faculty hired into this clinical program in 1971.  We (and others) spent many spirited years together developing and nurturing this UNCG doctoral program in clinical psychology and its affiliated training clinic.  Scott and I were also longtime friends.  My husband David and I visited at his home on Montpelier Drive (Greensboro) and later in Stokesdale.  We attended his and Vicki's wedding and also enjoyed a tour of his winery in Germanton.   I was fortunate to be part of Scott's life for five decades - I surely will miss him. 

Rosemery Nelson Gray, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

OBITUARY

Philip Scott Lawrence

May 20, 1943 – August 16, 2025

Mitchell Funeral Home at Raleigh Memorial Park

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