Palm - Fall 2008 - (Page 22)

ALPH A TAU O ME G A F O U N D AT IO N Saying goodbye to a very good friend ON FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2008, Alpha Tau Omega lost a brother, Roy Hufﬁngton, whose heart was as big as the world he traveled giving back in so many ways we can’t list them all he was 90. Roy attended Southern Methodist University where he majored in Geology and was initiated into ATO in 1935. Roy was his chapter’s Worthy Master and held several other ofﬁces (Worthy Keeper of the Annuals and Palm Reporter). He went on to obtain his M.A. (1941) and Ph.D (1942) degrees in geology from Harvard University. Brother Hufﬁngton served in the U.S. Navy during WWII aboard the carrier USS Hornet. Logging 18 months of combat duty, he earned, among other decorations, the Bronze Star with combat V and the Presidential Unit Citation. His training in photogeology served him well as an intelligence ofﬁcer in the Navy. After the war, he returned to Texas where he married Phyllis Gough in 1945. He became a ﬁeld geologist with Humble Oil & Reﬁning Company (now known as Exxon, U.S.A.), where he quickly rose in ranks until in 1956, where he decided to go into business for himself. As an independent wildcatter, he successfully explored, discovered and developed domestic ﬁelds in Texas & Louisiana. He eventually expanded his operations into international oil & gas exploration. AT O PA L M FA L L 2 0 0 8 In 1968, he signed a production sharing contract with the government of Indonesia. In East Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, he discovered a giant reserve of natural gas. In a time when gas was being ﬂared, he had the vision and determination to work with the Indonesian government to construct an LNG (liqueﬁed natural gas) facility in East Kalimantan. He also helped negotiate and develop a natural gas export agreement between Indonesia and Japan. He sold the company’s overseas operations in 1990 to the Chinese Petroleum Corporation of Taiwan. Among the many awards and decorations received during his lifetime, he was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Austria by President George H. W. Bush and was inducted into the Texas Hall of Fame in 1993. In 1988, he and Phyllis established the Roy M. and Phyllis Gough Hufﬁngton Center on Aging at the Baylor College of Medicine (Phyllis predeceased him in 2003) and later the Hufﬁngton Foundation. A more recent accomplishment won Roy a silver medal at the Senior Olympics. Roy always attributed his leadership skills to his undergraduate ATO experience. When presented with the ATO Distinquished Alumnus Award in 1987, Roy stated clearly in his speech how much his ATO experience changed his life and Huffington accepts the ATO Distinguished Alumnus Award. He is one of only four men to receive this honor. 22 how some of his best friends in life were the very same ATOs he went to school with. Roy’s sense of giving back was always a part of who he (and Phyllis) were and with his ﬁnancial success, Roy continued to serve his expanded community including giving the ATO Foundation its ﬁrst $1,000,000 cash gift used to create the Hufﬁngton Education Endowment to support 21st Century Legacy Fund Campaign. A tribute will be made to Brother Hufﬁngton at the ATO Night following the Foundation Board of Governors meeting in Houston, Texas on Wednesday, January 28, 2009.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Palm - Fall 2008

Palm - Fall 2008 Contents Navigating Guyland The Next Star 78th ATO Congress NHQ: Headquarters News SIR: Success in Review TAU: Alumni News ITS: In the Spotlight

Palm - Fall 2008

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