Lawrence Magdovitz, 77, passed away on Sunday, May 24, 2015, after a long illness. He was born on August 21, 1937 in Clarksdale, MS to Harry and Lenable (May) Magdovitz.
Lawrence grew up in Clarksdale, MS. He graduated from Clarksdale High School. After high school he attended Vanderbilt University, where he received a BA degree and a Bachelor of Legal Letters and Juris Doctorate. He was a member of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. Lawrence graduated in 1961 from law school and passed the Tennessee and Mississippi bar exams in the same week. He opened the Law Offices of Lawrence Magdovitz in 1962 and practiced law for 52 years. Lawrence was a licensed attorney in Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee, a residential contractor, and real estate broker in Mississippi.
Lawrence began buying real estate early in life, purchasing his first rental house in Clarksdale when he was only 16 years-old, using the money he earned from working in the family-operated Mack’s Department store in Clarksdale. Lawrence continued to purchase homes in Clarksdale and to rent them out. He also built homes in the area and once owned more than 200 homes in Clarksdale.
In 1980, Lawrence bought his first commercial building – a post office he leased to the US Postal Service. He purchased additional post offices and started building postal facilities in rural Mississippi, including Ashland, MS and Lake Cormorant, MS. By 2002, he had a portfolio of several hundred post offices and recruited his son to work for him.
Lawrence accumulated more than 1,000 post offices nationwide during his real estate career. He was considered the “largest single owner of post office buildings in the United States, second only to the United States Postal Service itself.”
He was a member of AUSPL, an association of 3,100 members who own and lease to the USPS about 9,500 post office buildings across the country.
“Lawrence touched many people in the Postal leasing industry, and was well respected by the USPS. He will be greatly missed”, said Morgan Wolaver, AUSPL President.
Lawrence married Kerin Northrup Coffey in 1972. In 1994, at age 56, Kerin Magdovitz passed away. Lawrence never remarried. He gave generously to a variety of charities, including the Institute for Southern Jewish Life. He also supported the Boy Scouts. Lawrence established the Lawrence M. & Kerin C. Magdovitz Foundation to continue his charitable works.
He is survived by his two children, Beth Ann Magdovitz and her husband James, Lawrence M. Larry M. Magdovitz, II and his wife Nouth; his four grandchildren; his brother Jerome and his wife Barbara, his stepson John Brooks; his nieces and nephews, and other family and friends. A funeral was held May 27, 2015 in Clarksdale, MS.