John Lawrence, who served the longest of any city manager in the Florida city of Dunedin, and moved to Powder Springs in 2005 to be close to family, died Sunday. He was 66.

The cause was liver disease, his family told the Tampa Bay Times. 

Lawrence started with Dunedin as a city planner in 1980 and would eventually take over the role of city manager for 21 years, the newspaper reports. While in Powder Springs, he worked as a special projects coordinator and taught urban design at a college, it says.

Raised in Connecticut, Lawrence graduated from Yale and Cornell and was a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War, according to his obituary from the West Cobb Funeral Home. Private services will be held later.

Survivors include his wife, Jo Pamela Lawrence; two sons, Matt Lawrence of Marietta and Andrew Lawrence of Clearwater, FL; brother, Mike Lawrence of Clearwater, FL; sister, June Rickard of Sutton, MA; and granddaughter, Emma Lawrence.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Liver Foundation.

Share your thoughts and memories in the funeral home's guestbook or in the comments below.

Don’t miss any of the local news you care about. Subscribe to West Cobb Patch’s free newsletter, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.