Cordell H. Haymon
Cordell H. Haymon of Baton Rouge, La., has recently retired from Petroleum Service Corporation (PSC), a company which he built over several decades and where he served as CEO for many years. PSC is the nation’s leading provider of tankerman services to the barge and towing industry and also operates dock facilities and does product handling for refineries and chemical plants.
Haymon received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Rice University and his juris doctor from the LSU Law School (now the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center) in 1968. He is a member of the Law Center Board of Trustees and the Law Center Dean’s Council. He has served as president of the Louisiana State Law Institute and the Baton Rouge Bar Association. In 2014, he was named Distinguished Alumnus of the Year by the Law Center.
Haymon and his wife, LSU alumna Ava Leavell Haymon (master’s degree in English, ’67, and the former Poet Laureate of Louisiana), are LSU Foundation members and have made significant gifts to the Saul Litvinoff Professorship Fund in the Law Center, as well as provided generous support for the LSU Press, College of Humanities & Social Sciences, and the LSU Museum of Art. Most recently, as part of the LSU Fierce for the Future Campaign, the Haymons made a transformative gift to fund an endowed chair in music therapy in the College of Music & Dramatic Arts. The couple has two children, Houston and Carroll.
My LSU Giving Story
What is your favorite memory involving LSU?
Billy Cannon’s punt return against Ole Miss in 1959 and, as a young boy living near
campus, listening to LSU football games on the radio while hearing the crowds cheering
from the stadium.
What makes LSU unique?
It is the flagship university of the state, educating many of our best and brightest
future leaders.
Why did you choose to attend LSU?
I chose LSU Law School because I wanted to practice law in Louisiana, and it was the
finest law school in the state.
Why do you support LSU?
To help make it possible for deserving young people to receive high quality educational
opportunities that prepare them for future success.
If someone asked you why he/she should make a gift to LSU, what would you say?
As state funding for higher education has been reduced, private giving has become
even more essential to ensure LSU has the resources it needs to compete successfully
with flagship universities in other states.
What is your vision for LSU, and how do you think philanthropy can drive that vision?
My vision is for our state university to have the leadership and resources to recruit
and retain outstanding faculty and support deserving students who need scholarship
assistance. Private philanthropy is needed to augment state support in order to achieve
this vision.
What motivated you to accept our invitation to be an inaugural member of the LSU Foundation
National Board?
I was honored to be asked to join this outstanding group of people and help build
the financial and political support required for LSU to be an outstanding flagship
university for our state.
What most excited you about being part of the National Board?
The opportunity to be part of elevating the role of philanthropic support to be competitive
with the support received by flagship institutions in other states.