"Hats Off to Success - One Heck of an Evening"

2007 Honoree
THE HONORABLE ROY M. HUFFINGTON

     Roy M. Huffington received his B.S degree in geology from Southern Methodist University and M.A and Ph. D. Degrees in geology from Harvard University. After serving in the U S Navy in the Pacific during World War II, he went to work for the Humble Oil & Refining Company. He later established his own international oil and gas exploration company, Roy M. Huffington, Inc. Discoveries in East Kalimantan led to the development of a multi-billion dollar Liquified Natural Gas export project between Indonesia and Japan, creating the second largest source of income for Indonesia. In 1985, he received the Gold Medallion Oil Pioneer Award from the Indonesian government for meritorious services to its oil and gas industry. In 1990, the company's overseas operations were sold to the Chinese Petroleum Corporation of Taiwan. From 1990 to 1993 Mr. Huffington served as our ambassador to Austria
     For years Mr Huffington has been involved with many community projects through his church. With his financial success, he continued to serve his expanded community. We soon found that Huffco, as well as Phyllis and I personally, were contributing to about 350 local charities, helping build hospitals, schools, and helping individuals as well. As soon as we gave to one charity, we found five more just like them. Later, we were able to cut back to about 150 organizations."
     In 1988, Roy and his wife Phyllis established the Roy M. and Phyllis Gough Huffington Center on Aging at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Recognized as one of the premier centers on aging in the world, the center conducts basic and clinical research, and provides education and training to health professions students and professionals. The Center's mission is to enhance the quality of life of older people and their family caregivers. They established the Phyllis Gough Huffington Bicentennial Endowment Fund at the college in 2001. They have also contributed significantly to the UT-MD Anderson Cancer Center, the UT-Houston Health Science Center and the Texas Medical Center. They co-founded the Phyllis Gough Huffington Chair in Finance at the Edwin L. Cox School of Business at SMU, after previously founding a Chair in Geology, several scholarship funds, and a $5 million Bicentennial Endowment Fund.