2020 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 50
BY SENATOR FOIL
A RESOLUTION
To express the sincere condolences of the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana upon the
death of Billy M. Seay PhD, the founding Dean of Louisiana State University Honors
College, and long-time academician at Louisiana State University.
WHEREAS, Billy Seay was born in Bismark, Arkansas, and died in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, on December 4, 2019; and
WHEREAS, Billy Seay graduated from Southern State College in Magnolia,
Arkansas, and received his PhD in psychology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison;
and
WHEREAS, Billy Seay, PhD came to Louisiana State University in 1964 as a young
psychologist, but one who had already published a then groundbreaking study of mother-
infant separation, coauthored by his major professor at the University of Wisconsin, Harry
F. Harlow; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Seay was married to the love of his life, Nedra Dees Seay, for sixty
years and the couple raised two children, daughter Delecia, and son Franklin, as well as five
beloved grandchildren; and
WHEREAS, Billy Seay was committed to his faith and was a long-time member and
deacon of University Baptist Church, where he also served as a Sunday School teacher; and
WHEREAS, he enjoyed fishing, reading, camping, and traveling with his wife, as
well as texting with his grandchildren, which he learned to do particularly to be able to stay
in touch with them; and
WHEREAS, in 1992, LSU opened the Honors College, renamed the Roger Hadfield
Ogden Honors College in 2014, as an academic community offered to the top ten percent of
students admitted to LSU, housed in the heritage-listed French House, and offering a
curriculum of seminar classes, mentoring relationships with faculty, and opportunities for
undergraduate research culminating in the Honors Thesis; and
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WHEREAS, Billy Seay, PhD was named the founding dean of the Honors College
in 1992, a position he held until his retirement from LSU in 2003; and
WHEREAS, one of Dr. Seay's proudest moments was watching his granddaughter,
Margaret Carey, graduate from the Ogden Honors College in December, 2019; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Billy Seay lived a life focused on his love of family, faith, and his
academic commitment to students at LSU, first in the field of psychology, and then as the
dean of a bold academic enterprise begun in the 1990s that continues to serve the best and
the brightest students well into the twenty-first century.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby express sincere condolences upon the death of Billy M. Seay, PhD, the founding
dean of the LSU Ogden Honors College and long-time academician at LSU.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
Mrs. Nedra Dees Seay, widow of Dr. Seay.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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