[1] Lawrence Michael McKenna was born in Manhattan and was raised in Douglaston, Queens.
[2] graduated from Regis High School,[3] then received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Fordham College in 1956.
[4] On January 24, 1990, McKenna was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by Judge William C. Conner.
[4] In 2001, McKenna struck down two policing policies introduced by Mayor Rudy Giuliani: he ruled that an instance in which the NYPD barred a church from allowing homeless people to sleep there was a violation of the Free Exercise Clause, and stopped the city from requiring a permit for vendors selling art or books in city parks.
[2] McKenna died under hospice care in Brooklyn on February 3, 2023, at the age of 89.