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FRANK, LAWRENCE K. 1890-1968

FOUNDATION EXECUTIVE AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENTIST

Foundations

Anthropologist Margaret Mead said in her obituary of Lawrence K. Frank that he "used [philanthropic] foundations the way the Lord meant them to be used." Frank grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and received his B.A. degree in economics from Columbia University in 1912. As a graduate student he met Columbia economist Wesley C. Mitchell, who with his wife, the educator Lucy Sprague Mitchell, became friends and influential mentors of Frank.

Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial

In 1923 Frank was selected as director of the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, a new foundation that was part of the Rockefeller family philanthropies and devoted exclusively to the well-being of children. Instead of using the foundation's considerable resources to aid existing child-welfare agencies, Frank decided to create new preventive facilities studying the psychological development of normal children. He designed a university-based child-study program including research on child growth and development along with parent education on child rearing.

Child Welfare Research Institutes

Frank's new program included conducting practical research that would lead to the establishment of norms for the behavior of the "average American child" at each age, as well as publicizing and applying the results of this research in nursery and elementary schools, parent-training programs, and medical settings. Under Frank's leadership, by 1930 the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial had funded nine Child Welfare Research Institutes in major universities in the United States and Canada. Research at these institutes amassed enormous amounts of data that shaped the fields of developmental child psychology, early childhood education, and pediatrics for decades.

Achievements

When the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial was terminated in 1929, Frank continued to direct the child-development program, first as part of the larger Rockefeller Foundation, then, beginning in 1933, as part of its General Education Board. He maintained his philanthropic work on behalf of children and in education at the Josiah Macy Foundation from 1936 to 1942 and at the Caroline B. Zachry Institute of Human Development from 1945 to 1950. Frank wrote prolifically for both scientific and popular audiences. His books include Nature and Human Nature (1951); Babies are Puppies, Puppies Are Babies (1953); and Feelings and Emotions (1954). In 1950 he shared the Parents Magazine Award with his wife, Mary, for their article "How to Help Your Child in School." In 1947 he had shared, with Catherine MacKenzie of The New York Times, a Lasker Award for his contributions to popular adult education in mental health, especially regarding parent/child relationships. Frank, an intellectual collaborator and mentor to many in the behavioral sciences, expanded the work of foundations in child-study research and its practical application.