The G. Frank & Winston Purvis Professorship was established by the LSU Board of Supervisors in 1999, and was made possible by the generosity of the late G. Frank Purvis and his late wife, Winston, who made many contributions to LSU and the community during their lives.
Mr. Purvis was a member of the LSU Law Class of 1935 and an Order of the Coif inductee. He practiced in Rayville, and served as an Attorney for the Louisiana Secretary of State, Ex Officio Insurance Commissioner, and Special Assistant to the Attorney General before volunteering for the Navy in August 1941. Called to active duty on Pearl Harbor Day, he became an instructor in the V7 program at Northwestern University. He requested sea duty and served as an anti-submarine officer on active service in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of World War II.
After returning home from war, Mr. Purvis was appointed Deputy Louisiana Insurance Commissioner and then Special Assistant Attorney General. He joined Pan American Life Insurance in 1949 as Assistant General Counsel and was promoted to president and CEO in 1964, becoming the first Louisiana-born President of PALIC. He later became Chairman of the Board and remained on the board until 2008. During his time at Pan American, he was chair of the largest association of life insurance companies in the U.S. as well as the largest health insurance association.
Mr. Purvis was honored by numerous organizations and served on a multitude of boards and commissions during his life, including as Chair of the Dock Board for the Port of New Orleans, the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, and the Tuberculosis Association of New Orleans. He was President of the New Orleans Federation of Churches, the YMCA and the Council for a Better Louisiana, and a member of the Chamber of Commerce and International House.
Always interested in education, he served on the LSU Board of Supervisors as well as the Loyola University New Orleans Board of Trustees. In addition, he taught at both LSU Law and Tulane’s University College. He received the prestigious Integritas Vitae Award in 1991 from Loyola University New Orleans and was honored by the United Teachers of New Orleans as Man of the Year. He was awarded the Order of Balboa from the President of the Republic of Panama and received a special Honor from Pope John Paul II.
