TV writer and producer Yolonda E. Lawrence, who worked on series including Fox’s Empire and The CW’s Riverdale, has died.
Lawrence died unexpectedly in Los Angeles on Oct. 10. She was 56 years old.
A native of Brooklyn and graduate of Syracuse University, Lawrence moved to Los Angeles in the early 1990s to work in the industry. She began as a production assistant and production coordinator on series’ including The Crew, a comedy co-created by Marc Cherry, and the Fox drama 413 Hope St. before becoming an assistant to showrunners Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin (Chicago Hope, Judging Amy), who mentored her as a writer.
Lawrence landed her first staff job on the CBS drama Shark in 2006. She penned episodes of Lincoln Heights, Reaper, Shondaland’s Star-Crossed, ABC Family’s The Nine Lives of Chloe King and Witches of East End, among other shows.
She was a writer and supervising producer of Riverdale in 2017-18 before moving to Empire, where she rose to co-executive producer and co-developed a potential spinoff focused on Taraji P. Henson’s character with Danny Strong and Stacy A. Littlejohn. Recent credits included Showtime’s The First Lady, Peacock’s Bel-Air and Tyler Perry’s BET series Sistas. She also served as a mentor to a number of young Black creatives and others looking to find a place in the industry.
Lawrence is survived by her mother, Barbara Simon, and siblings Ayana Simon and Craig Simon. A memorial service is being planned for later this month in Los Angeles.
