David Lawrence McKay

David Lawrence McKay, the oldest son of David O. McKay and Emma Ray Riggs McKay, served as the general superintendent of the Sunday School of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1966 to 1971. He also served as a member of the general Sunday School board in 1944 and a member of the superintendency from 1949 to 1966. In 1971 he served as president of the Eastern States Mission. He also served as a full-time missionary in Switzerland from October 1920 to September 1924. When his father was president of the Church and was too ill to deliver his sermons, Lawrence often read them in General Conference for him. He wrote a book about the life and service of his father, My Father, David O. McKay.

McKay was born in Ogden, Utah, on September 30, 1901. After graduating from the University of Utah, he studied at the Sorbonne Institute in Paris where he received a Certificat en Psychologie. He taught French at the University of Utah and McKinley Tech High School in Washington, DC. While in Washington, he earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree at George Washington University and his Master of Laws degree at the Harvard Law School. He returned to Salt Lake City and was a founding partner of McKay, Burton, and Thurman.

He was active in civic and community affairs and sat on several board of directors, including Zion's Utah Bancorporation, KIRO Inc., Bonneville International, Utah-Idaho Sugar, Mineral Fertilizer, Murdock Travel, and English Oil Co.

An accomplished violinist, he was a member of the Utah Institute of Fine Arts, Utah Symphony Board, and Utah Coordinating Council of Higher Education. He also was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ’s Pacific Board of Education and the Polynesian Cultural Center.

McKay and his wife, Mildred, were the parents of four children. He passed away on October 27, 1993.