Since the late 20^th century, John F. Lawrence has been a pre-eminent driving force in the modernization of phylogenetic and taxonomic research on Coleoptera. His encyclopedic knowledge of morphology, biology, and relationships of adults and immatures has helped him produce several treatments of the order, most of them collaborative, including novel interactive electronic keys to families and subfamilies. From the 1960s onward, his research and its impact on understanding beetles expanded steadily. His Ph.D. focused on the small family Ciidae, but his search to place ciids taxonomically among beetles ultimately expanded his scope to all Coleoptera. He published on all or nearly all families, including discovering and describing new family-group taxa in 15 families and many new genera and species. John showed early that phylogenetic systematics is essential to understanding evolutionary relationships among beetles and placing ‘mystery’ taxa. Among John’s major impacts are: introducing phylogenetics into beetle research; promoting study of larvae in phylogenetics and taxonomy; clearly synthesizing masses of data to illuminate beetle evolution and classification; processing and identifying extensive collections, making quantities of well-identified material available for further study; mentoring and collaborating with many researchers; and helping train and inspire academic generations of new coleopterists who are doing the same.