Laura Lester Russell - Chapman Legacy Society
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Gifts Established:

  • Laura Lester Russell Endowment Fund | Est. 1977
brick engraved with name Laura Lester Russell

Laura Lester Russell

Laura Lester Morrison Russell lived a full and interesting life, accompanying her oil executive husband Hugh through his various assignments across the United States, living in Tulsa for many years, and then retiring in Greenwich, Connecticut. Always generous, Laura established an estate gift that first supported her devoted housekeeper and friend, and then provided substantial funding for the Department of Geosciences at The University of Tulsa.

Laura was born in 1904 in Missouri. By 1940, she had married Hugh Mariner Russell, a veteran of World War I and a geologist, who climbed the corporate ladder, working early in his career for Consolidated Corporation in New York and ultimately serving as the Chairman of Sinclair Gas and Oil Company until his retirement in 1955. Mr. Russell passed away in 1966 at the age of 66, and Mrs. Russell passed away in 1997 at the age of 93.

In 1977, Laura established the Laura Lester Russell Endowment Fund at TU, perhaps honoring her husband, with the fund’s focus on the acquisition and maintenance of equipment for the Department of Geosciences. This department is now part of TU’s Oxley College of Health and Natural Sciences. Mrs. Russell’s fund will continue to benefit geoscience students at TU for many years to come, and it is a testament to the generosity of this supportive former Tulsan.