Alfred Glassell
Alfred C. Glassell, Jr. was born in 1913 and graduated from LSU in 1934. He was a ROTC commanding major of the Third Battalion under then Major Troy Middleton, Commandant of Cadets. Glassell belonged to the Kappa Alpha fraternity, and served as student body president. During World War II, Glassell served as a second lieutenant in the African and European theatres and was promoted to major by 1945. He served as Major General Middleton’s aide (Middleton commanded the Forty-fifth Infantry Division at that time). Glassell became a leader in the petroleum industry serving as director of El Paso Natural Gas Company, First City Nation Bank of Houston, a director of Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corporation, Transcontinental Building Corporations and Transcontinental Energy Corporation, and Pacific Pipeline Company. Glassell had an interest in marine biology and has led marine expeditions with Yale University and the University of Miami Marine Institute to the Northwest Coast of South America. Glassell was a also a philanthropist and was associated with many civic organizations and museums including the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Texas Children’s Hospital, and was the Chairman of the Board of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts (a repository for the Glassell Collection of African Gold). He established the Glassell School of Art in Houston, recognizing the need for students to have hands-on experience in the arts. Glassell passed away at the age of 95 in 2008.
Glassell’s interview is housed in the T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History at LSU Libraries Special Collections. Glassell, Alfred, interview by Jennifer Abraham, audio recording, 2005, 4700.1757. Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.