TV writer and producer Yolonda E. Lawrence, who worked on series including Fox’s Empire and The CW’s Riverdale, died unexpectedly in Los Angeles on Friday. She was 56.
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 seeking 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 this month in Los Angeles.
