ENROLLED
2020 First Extraordinary Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 9
BY REPRESENTATIVES DAVIS, BAGLEY, BRASS, HILFERTY, JAMES, LACOMBE,
MAGEE, PIERRE, SCHEXNAYDER, STAGNI, AND TURNER AND
SENATORS FOIL, MCMATH, AND WARD
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To express sincere and heartfelt condolences upon the death of Samir Salman, accomplished
civil engineer and distinguished alumnus of Louisiana State University.
WHEREAS, Samir Shamoun Salman died peacefully at his home in Baton Rouge
surrounded by his loving wife and children on May 27, 2020, after a courageous and
characteristically tenacious battle with cancer; and
WHEREAS, Samir was born to the late Maria Aslan Salman and Shamoun Salman
on April 1, 1940, in Zahlé, Lebanon; and
WHEREAS, after graduating from secondary school in Damascus, Syria, Samir
worked for four years as a teacher of mathematics and logic and as a soccer coach in order
to save enough money to come to America in 1963 to study engineering at Louisiana State
University; and
WHEREAS, though Samir essentially spoke no English at all when he arrived in
Baton Rouge, with incredible determination, he graduated from LSU in 1966, having
completed in three years a bachelor of science in civil engineering degree program that
typically took at least five years for most students to finish; and
WHEREAS, Samir's distinguished career in engineering began at the agency that was
then known as the Louisiana Department of Highways, where he worked on the Atchafalaya
Basin Bridge project and gained experience in the design of major structures, structural
support systems, and bridge inspection procedures; and
WHEREAS, in 1973, Samir moved overseas to manage large-scale road and bridge
projects in the Middle East and Turkey; his exceptional talents and knowledge of languages,
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laws, local customs, international construction codes, geography, and geology positioned
him well to lead globally significant infrastructure projects, which he would do for the
remainder of a long and productive career; and
WHEREAS, beginning in the mid-1970s, Samir led the design and construction of
the first road to connect the Arabian Gulf by land to the Arabian Sea and also supervised the
construction of numerous major structures in fast-growing urban areas of Saudi Arabia; and
WHEREAS, after coming out of a brief first retirement in 1988, Samir embarked on
what was perhaps his greatest engineering achievement: building, over the course of twelve
years, the first of the Trans-European Motorways, a dual three-lane highway through Turkey
which links Europe to the Middle East; and
WHEREAS, a part of this road, the one hundred sixty mile long
Tarsus-Adana-Gaziantep Motorway in southeastern Turkey, built through an active seismic
zone and featuring eleven concrete and steel viaducts, one of which is forty-five stories high
and the third-tallest in Europe, is regarded as a marvel of modern civil engineering; and
WHEREAS, while working in Baton Rouge before he embarked on his international
career, Samir met and married the love of his life, Rita Mae Pizzolatto, a dental hygienist
and Loyola University New Orleans graduate originally of Houma; and
WHEREAS, Rita and Samir would both recall fondly the days of their courtship
when he introduced her to traditional Lebanese cuisine, which he prepared himself as foods
such as yogurt and hummus were not yet common here, and brought her to see Louisiana's
first high-mast road lighting, which he had built, on Airline Highway; and
WHEREAS, Rita and Samir were married on February 24, 1973, at Christ the King
Catholic Church on the LSU campus and they later welcomed into the world a daughter,
Samira Anne, and a son, Sammer Joseph; and
WHEREAS, the couple raised their children both in Baton Rouge and abroad, living
for periods in Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, with shorter
stints in Syria and the United Kingdom, the children attending school for a time in
Switzerland, and they enjoyed the wonders and navigated the challenges of making the
world their home; and
WHEREAS, Samir did not live only to work; he loved to dance and to khafla often
with friends and family; and
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WHEREAS, he and Rita hosted countless gatherings of family and good friends and
they delighted in treating people to good times and wonderful food, serving homemade
Lebanese fare and classic Louisiana Italian dishes in abundance and with love; and
WHEREAS, Samir finally retired in the early 2000s, settled permanently with Rita
in Baton Rouge, and treasured time with his children, whom he loved fiercely, as they each
finished their education at LSU and went on to careers in Texas and New York City; and
WHEREAS, among his greatest pleasures in his later years were doting on his two
beautiful grandchildren, seeing his family find happiness and success, and, as a man who had
come to love American football and also lived in the Tiger Stadium dormitory long ago,
relishing the LSU football team's amazing performances and national championships; and
WHEREAS, left to cherish his memory are his loved ones in the United States,
Turkey, Syria, Sweden, and the Netherlands: his devoted wife of forty-seven years, Rita
Pizzolatto Salman; his daughter, son, and daughter-in-law, Samira, Sammer, and Brooke
Dickerson Salman; grandson and granddaughter, Felix and Clara Salman; brother, Elie
Salman; sisters, Maha Salman Aras, Huda Salman Saliba, and Muna Salman Gabriel;
numerous in-laws, nieces, nephews, and other beloved members of his extended family; and
a host of close friends around the world including many engineering colleagues.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
express sincere and heartfelt condolences upon the death of Samir Salman; does hereby
recognize his many accomplishments; and does hereby record his singular contributions and
achievements, which will forever be a source of pride and honor for his family.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this Resolution be transmitted
to the family of Samir Salman.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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