ALEXANDRIA - Martin Sustainable Resources LLC and Martco LLC d.b.a. RoyOMartin and LSU alumni Roy O. Martin III and Kathy Kilpatrick Martin have committed $3.5 million to advance top capital priorities on three LSU campuses: LSU of Alexandria’s Student Success Center, the LSU Interdisciplinary Science Building on the flagship campus in Baton Rouge and LSU Health Shreveport’s Center for Medical Education.
“This gift will provide foundational support for three of our top capital priorities,” said LSU President William F. Tate IV, adding, “The LSU of Alexandria Student Success Center, LSU Interdisciplinary Science Building, and LSU Health Shreveport Center for Medical Education are critical to closing infrastructure gaps, positioning LSU to achieve ambitious goals in the areas of student and faculty recruitment, research and community impact. The Martin family’s support of LSU is longstanding and broad, and we are grateful for their exemplary commitment to advancing the LSU System as a family of interconnected campuses.”
Martin Sustainable Resources LLC and Martco LLC d.b.a. RoyOMartin, the premier manufacturer of wood products in the Gulf South, has committed $2 million to complete funding for the LSUA Student Success Center, which is the campus’s top Fierce for the Future Campaign priority. The $10 million center, slated to break ground in spring 2022, will be a central hub for student services that will serve as a front door to the university while ensuring that each LSUA student receives the level of individual support needed for success. Construction of this dedicated student space, which is a public-private partnership with the State of Louisiana, responds to the ongoing expansion of LSUA’s student body and pool of academic offerings – growth that has accelerated a need to make improvements to the campus’s overall appearance and add new facilities. Further, the services offered within the Student Success Center – spanning Admissions & Recruiting, Financial Aid, Advising, First-Year Experience, and a Career Development Center – will bolster LSUA’s retention efforts and connect students with career placement opportunities upon graduation.
Roy and Kathy Martin each earned two degrees from LSU’s flagship campus. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA, and she holds a bachelor's degree in music education and an MBA. The couple lives in Alexandria, La., where RoyOMartin is headquartered.
Roy O. Martin III said, “The Martin and Kilpatrick families have been educated by the entire LSU System, from New Orleans to Shreveport and every campus in between. We have a deep appreciation for LSU as one of Louisiana’s most important, impactful assets. We are also deeply appreciative of LSU’s impact on our lives and, in turn, on the success of our business. That gratitude and our commitment to Louisiana’s future catalyzed our decision to make a system-wide gift this year. We are proud to support the entire family of LSU campuses now and in the future.”
RoyOMartin is one of several wholly-owned subsidiaries of Martin Sustainable Resources L.L.C., a privately held equity investment company. The name RoyOMartin honors the business pioneer and Martin family patriarch, Roy O. Martin, Sr., who began the family’s first business with a small sawmill in Alexandria, Louisiana, in 1923 and soon thereafter bought a few acres of timberland. Martin Sustainable Resources L.L.C. is owned by several generations of Roy Sr.’s descendants. Its holdings are broad but focus primarily on land, timber, and mineral resources, with special emphasis on sustainable forests and forest-products manufacturing businesses. These holdings include the plywood and oriented strand board manufacturing facilities owned and operated in Louisiana by RoyOMartin and by RoyOMartin’s wholly-owned Texas subsidiary, Corrigan OSB, L.L.C. Martin Timberlands L.L.C. is one of the largest private landowners in the southern United States.
The Martins’ and RoyOMartin’s most recent investments in LSU are part of the System’s $1.5 billion Fierce for the Future Campaign, the largest campaign for higher education in the history of Louisiana. Fierce for the Future unites LSU’s campuses statewide in pursuit of a common goal: to generate solutions for the people in Louisiana that hold the promise of making profoundly positive impacts around the world.