Louisiana SR 205: CONDOLENCES: Expresses sincere and heartfelt condolences to the family of George Lee Griffin Sr. on the day of his passing.

Bill Text

2023 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 205
BY SENATOR FOIL
A RESOLUTION
To express the sincere and heartfelt condolences of the Senate of the Legislature of
Louisiana on behalf of its members, past and present, and on behalf of the citizens
of the state of Louisiana to the family of George Lee Griffin Sr., a pioneer of the
banking industry, public servant, philanthropist, and dedicated family man on the
occasion of his passing on June 8, 2023.
WHEREAS, George Lee Griffin Sr. was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, on
September 19, 1938, and grew up in Dallas, Texas, where he was a standout football player
and All-American diver at Highland Park High School, and he graduated with honors in
economics from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a member of the diving
team and Phi Delta Theta fraternity; and
WHEREAS, after graduation, Lee intended to join the Navy as a "frogman" which
was the precursor to the SEALS, but failed the physical due to a high school football injury;
and
WHEREAS, despondent after the Navy's rejection, Lee sought advice from his
favorite professor, who recommended that he attend graduate school at Louisiana State
University (LSU), where Lee met his best friend for life and beautiful wife of sixty years,
Elizabeth Barrett "Barrie" Lobdell; and
WHEREAS, after earning his master's degree in economics from LSU in 1962, Lee
planned to return to Dallas as he had a lucrative offer from a prestigious investment firm, but
Barrie's father, a former LSU quarterback and student body president, refused to give his
blessing of Lee's proposal of marriage to Barrie unless she graduated from LSU; and
WHEREAS, Lee then accepted an offer to join the management training program at
Louisiana National Bank (LNB), and he started his remarkable life in business and
community and public service in Baton Rouge; and
WHEREAS, in the 1960s and 1970s, as a young executive, Lee was instrumental in
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LNB's decisions to introduce programs and technologies that most banks in the South did
not embrace for years, such as drive-through tellers, residential loans, the first automated
teller machine (ATM) in Louisiana, banking by telephone, home banking which later
became online banking, debit cards, and credit cards; and
WHEREAS, Lee played a pioneering role in the worldwide credit card revolution,
by convincing Bank of America, later VISA, to grant LNB the first Louisiana franchisee
agreement for their BankAmericard, which was the first national credit card; and
WHEREAS, while still in his mid-thirties, he was elected to the board of directors
in 1975, where he would serve for the next twenty years; Lee is credited by his
contemporaries with coming up with the name VISA, when BankAmericard expanded into
other countries; and
WHEREAS, in making a name for himself in the international financial services
sector, Lee was steadily rising through the ranks at LNB, and he was named president at the
age of thirty-nine; and
WHEREAS, as president of LNB and the Louisiana Bankers' Association, in the
1980s, Lee convinced the legislature to legalize statewide banking, and subsequently created
the first statewide bank through a series of mergers that resulted in Premier Bank; and
WHEREAS, while serving as president, chief executive officer, and chair of the
board at Premier, Lee got ahead of the national banking trend in the 1990s, by brokering the
deal for Bank One of Ohio to purchase Premier, thus creating the first interstate bank in
Louisiana, with Lee serving as Bank One Louisiana's first president and chief executive
officer; and
WHEREAS, while Lee was always interested in community and public service, after
being elected as the president of the Committee of 100; when the legislature created the
Select Council on Revenue and Expenditures in Louisiana's Future, known as the SECURE
Council, composed of legislators, government officials, business leaders, educators, and
students, Lee was selected to lead this endeavor as chairman; and
WHEREAS, for two years, the SECURE Council conducted an extensive study of
Louisiana government at all levels, and was charged to "develop recommendations to
improve the financial future of the state and the general quality of life of its citizens" with
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the council's recommendations saving the state four billion dollars over the next ten
years; and
WHEREAS, upon retirement from banking, Lee was appointed by Governor Murphy
J. "Mike" Foster to the Civil Service Commission, and was reappointed by governors
Kathleen Blanco, Bobby Jindal, and John Bel Edwards; and
WHEREAS, in the 2000s, Lee agreed to come out of retirement to serve as president
and chief executive officer of the LSU Foundation; Lee laid the groundwork for the "Fierce
for the Future" capital campaign and developed the LSU Gateway Project on Nicholson
Drive; and
WHEREAS, throughout his life, Lee gave back to the community by serving on
numerous philanthropic board