William Lawrence Saunders was the 1915 president of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, a chairman of Ingersoll Rand Company, and deputy chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. This award, known today as the William Lawrence Saunders Gold Medal, was established in 1927 and recognizes achievement in mining other than coal. The obverse of Anthony de Francisci’s relief shows an allegorical figure offering up the minerals of the Earth.