Robert Lawrence Coughlin Jr. (April 11, 1929 – November 30, 2001) was an American lawyer and politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives representing the 13th district of Pennsylvania from 1969 to 1993. He also served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the Montgomery County district from 1965 to 1966 and the Pennsylvania Senate for the 17th district from 1967 to 1969. Early life and education R. Lawrence Coughlin was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Robert Lawrence and Evelyn (née Wich) Coughlin. His uncle was Clarence D. Coughlin, who represented Pennsylvania's 11th congressional district from 1921 to 1923. He was raised on his father's farm near Scranton, and graduated from the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, in 1946. Coughlin then enrolled at Yale University, where he majored in economics and was a member of St. Anthony Hall. He was also a classmate of George H. W. Bush, the future President of the United States. After graduating from Yale in 1950, he received a Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Business School in 1954. His studies at Harvard were interrupted during the Korean War, when he served as a captain in the United States Marine Corps and an aide to Lieutenant General Chesty Puller (1950-1952). Following his military service, Coughlin entered the Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia, attending classes at night while working as a foreman on an assembly line at a steel company during the day. He received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Temple in 1958. Early career In 1959, Coughlin was admitted to the bar and joined the law firm of Saul Ewing in Philadelphia. He was elected as a Republican to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1964, representing one of Montgomery County's at-large seats. After serving one term in the House, he was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate, where he represented the 17th District from 1967 to 1969. As a state legislator, he served on the Joint State Government Commission Task Force on Penal Laws. U.S. House of Representatives In 1968, after incumbent Richard Schweiker decided to run for the United States Senate, Coughlin successfully ran for the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district. The district, based in Montgomery County and dominated by the Republican Party, included the affluent suburban communities of the Main