Lauron William de Laurence was an American author and publisher on occult and spiritual topics.
Although he is reviled for his plagiarism of A.E. Waite's 1910 book The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, and the S.L. MacGregor Mathers version of the Key of Solomon, he also wrote his own works, including The Master Key a personal development book.
Despite being a blatant copy of Pam’s art, it is an important note (questionable ethics aside) that this was the deck that introduced Americans to the tarot. Due to the Great War (WWI) the early Rider decks never made it to the states in large numbers.