And his stunned family and friends lament the fact that Mr. Lawrence will be remembered more for the lies he told than the things he did.

''Though there is much that I still do not understand about recent events, I and those who knew my husband remember a life that, although not perfect, was indelibly marked by kindness, compassion and love for his community and country,'' his widow, Shelia Davis Lawrence, wrote to Mr. Clinton this week.

Maurice Larry Lawrence grew up poor and got rich as a real estate developer, amassing a $300 million fortune at his death. He gave generously to Jewish charities and to Democratic candidates, lending his ocean-front Tudor mansion in Coronado, across the bay from San Diego, to celebrities, politicians and even President Clinton. He held Gatsby-style parties, with carnival rides and fireworks displays over the Pacific.

Yet as friends and relatives tell it, Mr. Lawrence may have made good but never felt good enough. So he reinvented pieces of his past. In hunting for a motive, some neighbors wondered whether he had harbored a need to measure up to the many genuine war heroes around the San Diego Navy base.

''We have so many Purple Hearts here and on every corner we have real, real heroes,'' said Carol Cahill, a 70-year-old Coronado resident who had known Mr. Lawrence for 30 years. ''Maybe he just figured -- merchant marine, you can't trace it, no one will ever know.''

The Myth

Making A War Record Is Created

For years, Mr. Lawrence struggled to fit in in the heavily military, heavily Republican world of San Diego. He loved to tell friends that he had ''three strikes'' against him: he was ''a liberal, a Jew, a Democrat.''

The military both appealed to him and infuriated him.

''This town is full of narrow-minded admirals,'' a former colleague quoted Mr. Lawrence as saying often, particularly when his requests for building permits were blocked.