People & places · 10 MIN READ · 8 SOURCE QUOTES
Laurie Monroe
Laurie Monroe was one of Robert Monroe's daughters and the person who took charge of the Monroe Institute when he died on March 17, 1995. She led it as president for about eleven years, until her death in 2006, keeping her father's programs, laboratory and Professional Division going through the transition from a founder-run organization to an institution without its founder. Journals from the period list her as Laurie Monroe Chasick in 1995 and as Laurie A. Monroe from 1996 on.
Her connection to the work started early. A 2014 magazine profile says that when Monroe began experimenting with sound and sleep-learning in the 1950s, he started with his daughters, Maria and Laurie. As president she was a hands-on presence: she opened Professional Seminars, guided their tape days with researcher Darlene Miller, introduced new Gateway material to professional members, and backed research into what participants reported in Focus 27.
Her own recorded words are scarce in the public archive. Most of what survives comes from the Hemi-Sync Journal's seminar reports and from the people who worked with her. They describe a lively, energetic leader who took her father's last instruction to heart: get the work out there. Skip Atwater, her research director, succeeded her as president, and later leaders have named her among the guiding lights of the Institute's formative years.
Bob Monroe's daughter, who led the Monroe Institute as president from his death in 1995 until her own death in 2006.
Key points
Monroe's daughter and an early subject
Laurie was one of Bob Monroe's daughters; her sister is Maria, who appears in the 2008 Hemi-Sync Journal as Maria Whitehead with a portrait she painted of Laurie. A 2014 Echo profile says Monroe's first experiments with sound and sleep-learning, around the time his out-of-body experiences began in the late 1950s, started with Maria and Laurie. That makes Laurie part of the work from its very beginning, decades before she ran the Institute.
Taking over in 1995
Bob Monroe died on March 17, 1995. Nancy McMoneagle, his stepdaughter and a former director, says Laurie "very kindly came in and took over." Four months later, at the Thirteenth Professional Seminar in July 1995, President Laurie Monroe Chasick dedicated the week to her father's memory and presented a Creative Agreement that participants and staff could sign. The journal called the seminar pivotal to the future of the Institute.
Get it out there
A speaker at a 2012 Institute event said Bob's last words to Laurie were "get it out there," and that she passed the same instruction on to the staff. The Institute kept growing in her years: new residential programs and tape series appeared, the Professional Division held annual seminars, and the Institute's sound work was presented to clinicians, educators and researchers.
New programs and new Gateway material
Seminar reports show what was new under her. A 1996 seminar ended with exercises from the new Heartline program. At the 2000 seminar, Laurie and Darlene Miller guided professional members as the first to sample the Seventh Wave of the Gateway Experience. In 2002 their tape day featured selections from the MC2 program on manifestation and healing, and in 2004 they led an intensive called Enhancing Intuition.
Research focus on Focus 27
Skip Atwater, research director under Laurie, told the 2000 seminar that the Institute would turn its attention to the personal experiences people were reporting in Focus 27, the level explored in Lifeline and Exploration 27, and that he had asked several hundred program graduates to fill out questionnaires. In 2002 he described a study of reports about the Healing and Regeneration Center that he had proposed to Laurie and Darlene Miller, who wanted to know the answers too.
Building on her father's ground
Her presidency saw the Monroes' former home become part of the campus. Professional members broke ground for Roberts Mountain Retreat in 1997 and dedicated it in 1998, when, a 1999 journal says, members and staff also joined Laurie in dedicating a seven-cycle labyrinth they had created together. In 2000 the seminar broke ground for a Millennium Booth beside the cabin where Bob wrote his books.
The Professional Division and the advisors
Laurie's name heads the Board of Advisors list in the journals of her years, alongside Charles Tart, Joseph Chilton Pearce, Ronald Russell, Suzanne Evans Morris and, in the mid-1990s, Tom Campbell. She opened the annual seminars where members reported clinical, educational and research uses of Hemi-Sync, and in 1996 she led members in defining the Institute's vision and mission in relation to the Professional Division.
Her team
People who worked under her include Darlene Miller, her partner on seminar tape days; Skip Atwater, who ran the laboratory as research director and says Laurie asked him to run the remote viewing seminar program; and A.J. Honeycutt, the Institute's vice president from 1999 to 2004 by one introduction's account. Nancy McMoneagle remembers Laurie's spark, vivacity and youthful, go-getter energy.
After 2006
Laurie Monroe died in 2006. Atwater, then research director, was promoted to president, and by March 2008 Paul Rademacher was the new executive director. At that year's seminar Rademacher singled out Bob and Nancy Monroe, Laurie Monroe and Nancy McMoneagle as guiding lights through the formative years.
In their own words
Quotes are checked word for word against the recordings and documents they come from. Bracketed words correct transcription errors; “…” marks an omission.
“So after Bob left us [on] March 17, 1995, Laurie very kindly came in and took over and was our director. And all of you who knew [Laurie] knew her spark, her vivacity. She had a youthfulness about her, a real go getter type of energy.”
“At Saturday’s opening ceremonies, TMI President Laurie Monroe Chasick dedicated the week’s activities to the memory of her father, Robert A. Monroe. That evening she presented a Creative Agreement which all participants and staff had an opportunity to sign.”
“You know, when Bob died, his last words to [Laurie] was, 'Get it out there.' And [Laurie] did the same thing: 'Whatever you guys do, get it out there.' And it's been growing and growing, even through the recessionary times.”
“During that time, Monroe experimented with the impact of sound on sleep-learning, starting with his daughters, Maria and Laurie (following Monroe’s death in 1995, Laurie became President of TMI, and was head of the organization until her passing in 2006).”
“Under the expert guidance of Laurie Monroe and Darlene Miller, PhD, Seminar attendees became the first to sample the Seventh Wave of the Gateway Experience.”
“We're going to focus, as Laurie said, and I don't use the pun of focus. We will be focusing our attention on these … personal experiences that people have been having in the realm of 27. We have asked the several [hundred] people who've been through the programs to fill out questionnaires about their experiences.”
“So that's what I've been doing since [Laurie] asked me to run the seminar program. So here I've taught this for a number of years, all based on this idea of 'this is the way we did it 30 years ago.'”
“So for nearly 20 years I was the research director here at the Monroe Institute, and then when Bob Monroe's daughter passed, when [Laurie] died, I was … promoted into the president position.”
Important things to consider
Her own words are thin in the record
Apart from a short recorded introduction to the Institute, in which she calls "the only way to know is to find out for yourself" her father's famous expression, no interview or talk by Laurie turns up in the archive this site draws on. What survives is the Hemi-Sync Journal's seminar reports, mastheads, photo captions and the memories of colleagues. That is enough to establish what she did and when, but not to say much about her personal views of her father's work. Treat claims about what she believed with caution unless they come from her own recorded words.
One person, several names
Journals from 1995 call her Laurie Monroe Chasick. From 1996 the masthead reads Laurie A. Monroe, with President added by 2000. Transcripts often spell her name Lori. All of these refer to the same person.
Director and president
Sources use both titles for her. Nancy McMoneagle calls her "our director" and the journals call her President. The Institute's leadership titles changed over the years; the point is that she was the head of the organization from 1995 to 2006.
The 'last words' story is secondhand
The account of Bob's last words to Laurie comes from a speaker at a 2012 event, not from Laurie herself. It fits what the journals show about her years, but it is a remembered story rather than a documented quotation.
Research under her was the Institute's own
The Focus 27 questionnaires and the random number generator studies of her era were run by the Institute's own research staff and reported in its own journal and seminars. They show what the Institute was studying, not independently confirmed findings.
Private matters stay private
The sources give the year of her death, 2006, and say nothing reliable about its circumstances. This page does not speculate about her health or family life beyond what the published record states.
This site is independent
Gateway Explorer is not affiliated with the Monroe Institute or the Monroe family. For the Institute's own account of its history and leadership, use its website.
Common questions
Who was Laurie Monroe?
Laurie Monroe was Robert Monroe's daughter and the president of the Monroe Institute from his death in March 1995 until her own death in 2006. She was involved with her father's work from the beginning: a 2014 magazine profile says his early sound and sleep-learning experiments in the late 1950s started with his daughters, Maria and Laurie. As president she opened the Institute's annual Professional Seminars, led their tape days with Darlene Miller, introduced new material such as the Seventh Wave of the Gateway Experience, and oversaw the Institute's research and residential programs. Colleagues remember her energy and vivacity.
Who ran the Monroe Institute after Robert Monroe died?
His daughter Laurie Monroe. Bob Monroe died on March 17, 1995, and Laurie took over as president. In July 1995 she opened the Thirteenth Professional Seminar by dedicating it to his memory. She led the Institute until her death in 2006. Skip Atwater, the longtime research director, was then promoted to president, and by March 2008 Paul Rademacher was executive director. Nancy McMoneagle, Monroe's stepdaughter, returned as executive director and president around 2014.
What changed at the Monroe Institute under Laurie Monroe?
The Institute kept growing and broadened its programs. Seminar reports from her years mention the new Heartline program in 1996, the first sampling of the Seventh Wave of the Gateway Experience in 2000, tape days featuring the MC2 manifestation and healing series, and an intensive called Enhancing Intuition. Research turned toward participants' reports from Focus 27. The Monroes' former home was dedicated as Roberts Mountain Retreat in 1998, a labyrinth was built, and a Millennium Booth was planned beside the cabin where Bob wrote his books. A colleague later said she carried on her father's instruction to get the work out there.
Is Laurie Monroe the same person as Laurie Monroe Chasick?
Yes. The Hemi-Sync Journal's 1995 issues list the Institute's president as Laurie Monroe Chasick, including in the report of the July 1995 seminar where she dedicated the week to her father. From 1996 the masthead reads Laurie A. Monroe. Many transcripts spell her first name Lori. All refer to Bob Monroe's daughter who led the Institute from 1995 to 2006.
What did Laurie Monroe do for the Institute's research?
She backed the research program run by Skip Atwater. At the 2000 Professional Seminar, Atwater said the Institute would focus, as Laurie had said, on the experiences people reported in Focus 27, and that he had asked several hundred graduates of the programs to fill out questionnaires. In 2002 he described a study of reports about the Healing and Regeneration Center, a place visited in the Focus 27 programs, which he proposed to Laurie and Darlene Miller. Atwater also says Laurie asked him to run the remote viewing seminar program.
When did Laurie Monroe die?
Laurie Monroe died in 2006, about eleven years after her father. A 2014 magazine profile says she headed the Institute until her passing in 2006, and Nancy McMoneagle also dates her departure to 2006. Skip Atwater, who had been research director for many years, says he was promoted to president when she died. The sources do not describe the circumstances, and this site does not speculate about them.
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