Sadly, two great Tigers died this week. First, the one that most of you will know. Former band director William Swor died this week. Swor is most famous for inventing LSU's pregame ritual in 1964, perfecting it the next nine years. Second, LSU lost today Dr. William Patrick, one of the nicest people I ever met while at LSU. He was a student and taught at LSU continuously for 56 years! He was internationally acclaimed for innovative and pioneering contributions to the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients, heavy metals, and pesticides in wetland soils. His pioneering work in biogeochemical processing and cycling in wetland soils developed the foundation upon which much of our understanding of wetland soil and nutrient dynamics is based. Born in Johns, Mississippi on November 9, 1925, Patrick attended school in Louisiana and Mississippi, graduating from Lake Providence, Louisiana High School in 1944. He served in the U.S. Army Infantry from 1944 to 1946 in the South Pacific Area and entered Northeast Junior College in Monroe, Louisiana in 1946. Patrick transferred to Louisiana State in 1948 and obtained a B.S. degree in soils and a Ph.D. degree in soils with a minor in inorganic chemistry. He has since received the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Ghent, Belgium, bestowed in 1979. He served as Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor, and Boyd Professor (highest ranking professor in the LSU System) at LSU, beginning his illustrious career there in 1953. He has carried out research sabbaticals in England, Belgium and Denmark. He established the Laboratory for Wetland Soils and Sediments at the LSU Center for Wetland Resources in 1976, to study various environmental and regulatory aspects of coastal and interior wetlands. Dr. Patrick also served as Justice Department consultant and witness and was well known for his intermediate positions between extreme factions when serving as advisor on controversial issues. One of Dr. Patrick's major interests outside his university and government activities was the development of a World Hunger Scholarship Program to support Ph.D. students from developing countries in some field of food science or human nutrition. The program, largely supported by contributions from Methodist Churches, was conceived and organized by Dr. Patrick provide a mechanism to help people help themselves. The program supports 10 Ph.D. students and plans to increase in scope.
