Major General Gavin Lawrence, a 1991 graduate of the former Bishop McDevitt High School in Wyncote, has been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General for the US Army, the Department of Defense announced.
Lieutenant General Lawrence has been assigned as Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics and Operations at the U.S. Army Materiel Command in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.
He currently serves as the commanding general, Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command of the Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.
You can read Lawrence’s 2019 interview with the Defense Logistics Agency here.
Pat Durkin
Pat Durkin, a 1974 graduate of Cheltenham High School who also attended Bishop McDevitt, is currently the Chief of Investigations in the General Counsel’s office at a large global company.
According to local historian Chuck Langerman, Durkin served in federal law enforcement with the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service for 30 years. During his time with the agency, he protected eight Secretaries of States over four different administrations from George Schultz to Hillary Clinton, along with many foreign dignitaries, including Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, the Dalai Lama and 1967 Cheltenham grad Benjamin Netanyahu.
Durkin has traveled to 85 countries and oversaw two substantial criminal investigations while with the DSS, including “Operation Deathmatch” where hundreds of defendants were arrested/prosecuted for using infant death identities to illegally obtain US passports.
The other high-profile investigation was featured on a CBS 48 Hours episode titled “Lost Children,” and was one the largest foreign adoption frauds prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office.
From 1981 to 1985, Durkin coached the Panthers’ boys’ basketball team under the tutelage of head coach Steve Daley, the winningest boys’ basketball coach in school history. Durkin was a member of Cheltenham’s 1973-74 varsity basketball team which upset eventual state champion Abington High during the regular season.
Two of his 1974 Cheltenham basketball teammates, Glenn Fine and David Weiss, both went on to serve in federal law enforcement.
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Photo: U.S. Army