Lawrence B. de Graaf

Lawrence Brooks de Graaf (born August 30, 1932, in Yonkers, New York) is an American historian. He is a professor emeritus of History at California State University, Fullerton, where he is the namesake of the Lawrence de Graaf Center for Oral and Public History.

De Graaf was the oldest son of Kathryn née Brooks and Jacob C. de Graaf, a salesman whose parents had immigrated from Rotterdam in 1909. He grew up in various places in New York State before moving in 1944 to Glendale, California, where his father had taken a job with Sun Oil. De Graaf remained at Fullerton his whole career, retiring in 2002.

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