SLS 20RS-959 ORIGINAL
2020 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 50
BY SENATOR FOIL
CONDOLENCES. Expresses condolences upon the death of Billy Seay, PhD.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To express the sincere condolences of the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana upon the
3 death of Billy M. Seay PhD, the founding Dean of Louisiana State University Honors
4 College, and long-time academician at Louisiana State University.
5 WHEREAS, Billy Seay was born in Bismark, Arkansas, and died in Baton Rouge,
6 Louisiana, on December 4, 2019; and
7 WHEREAS, Billy Seay graduated from Southern State College in Magnolia,
8 Arkansas, and received his PhD in psychology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison;
9 and
10 WHEREAS, Billy Seay, Ph.D came to Louisiana State University in 1964 as a young
11 psychologist, but one who had already published a then ground-breaking study of mother-
12 infant separation, co-authored by his major professor at the University of Wisconsin, Harry
13 F. Harlow; and
14 WHEREAS, Dr. Seay was married to the love of his life, Nedra Dees Seay, for sixty
15 years and the couple raised two children, daughter Delecia, and son Franklin, as well as five
16 beloved grandchildren; and
17 WHEREAS, Billy Seay was committed to his faith and was a long-time member and
18 deacon of University Baptist Church, where he also served as a Sunday School teacher; and
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SLS 20RS-959 ORIGINAL
1 WHEREAS, he enjoyed fishing, reading, camping, and traveling with his wife, as
2 well as texting with his grandchildren, which he learned to do particularly to be able to stay
3 in touch with them; and
4 WHEREAS, in 1992, LSU opened the Honors College, renamed the Roger Hadfield
5 Ogden Honors College in 2014, as an academic community offered to the top ten percent of
6 students admitted to LSU, housed in the heritage-listed French House, and offering a
7 curriculum of seminar classes, mentoring relationships with faculty, and opportunities for
8 undergraduate research culminating in the Honors Thesis; and
9 WHEREAS, Billy Seay, PhD was named the founding dean of the Honors College
10 in 1992, a position he held until his retirement from LSU in 2003; and
11 WHEREAS, one of Dr. Seay's proudest moments was watching his granddaughter,
12 Margaret Carey, graduate from the Ogden Honors College in December, 2019; and
13 WHEREAS, Dr. Billy Seay lived a life focused on his love of family, faith, and his
14 academic commitment to students at LSU, first in the field of psychology, and then as the
15 dean of a bold academic enterprise begun in the 1990s that continues to serve the best and
16 the brightest students well into the twenty-first century.
17 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
18 does hereby express sincere condolences upon the death of Billy M. Seay, PhD, the founding
19 dean of the LSU Ogden Honors College and long-time academician at LSU.
20 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
21 Mrs. Nedra Dees Seay, widow of Dr. Seay.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Mary Dozier O'Brien.
DIGEST
SR 50 Original 2020 Regular Session Foil
Expresses condolences upon the death of Dean Billy Seay, founding dean of the LSU Honors
College.
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