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Regular Session, 2014
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 164
BY REPRESENTATIVE ST. GERMAIN
A RESOLUTION
To express the condolences and the heartfelt sorrow of the House of Representatives upon
the death of Paul J. Ramsay, owner of Nottoway Plantation and chairman of Ramsay
Health Care Companies.
WHEREAS, on May 1, 2014, the state lost one of its very best and most-respected
businessmen and philanthropists; and
WHEREAS, Paul Ramsay was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1936, and would later
graduate from St. Ignatius College, Riverview, in New South Wales, followed by studies at
the University of Sydney; and
WHEREAS, at the age of twenty-eight, Ramsay purchased a guest house on Sydney's
North Shore and converted it into a sixteen-unit psychiatric hospital, that became the first
private psychiatric hospital in all of Australia; and
WHEREAS, Ramsay renamed his company Ramsay Health Care and began
purchasing surgical centers, private hospitals, and rehabilitation centers all over Australia,
and over the next several decades, Ramsay Health Care expanded outside of Australia into
Malaysia, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, and France, and today the company employs over
thirty thousand people and treats over one million patients every year at over one hundred
fifty private health care centers; and
WHEREAS, in 2002, Ramsay became an Officer of the Order of Australia for his
philanthropy and in 1985, he purchased Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, Louisiana, and
poured fifteen million dollars into an extensive renovation of the original mansion in 2005,
and he then expanded multiple areas of the thirty-five-acre site, transforming what was once
an old plantation into a preeminent conference and wedding resort, and Mr. Ramsay
accomplished all of this while Louisiana was still reeling from the aftermath of Hurricanes
Katrina and Gustav and the BP oil spill; and ENROLLEDHR NO. 164
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WHEREAS, Mr. Ramsay directed the bulk of his three and one-half billion dollar
estate to be transferred to the Paul Ramsay Foundation, which will become one of the
wealthiest charities in the country; and
WHEREAS, Nottoway Plantation & Resort will continue to operate and grow, now
guided by Mr. Ramsay's foundation, and by his long-term vision of turning the property into
the South's premiere destination.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby express its condolences and most heartfelt sorrow to
the family of Paul J. Ramsay, businessman and philanthropist.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this Resolution be transmitted
to Mr. Ramsay's family and to Nottoway Plantation.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATI VES