Donor Spotlights

George Khoury

Mr. Khoury is one of those rare people who gives not only for the people that he helps, but hoping to in turn inspire them to take the opportunity to help others. He is truly an unsung hero, touching the lives of so many people in our community, especially with his support of young people.

A child of immigrant parents, he learned early in life the value of hard work, family pride, equality among all people, religious faith, and a responsibility toward helping others less fortunate than himself.

He was the first in his family to graduate from college, and knows both the difficulties and the rewards of pursuing an education. Khoury and his family worked hard to pay for his college education—tuition, books, clothing, room, and board. When the money did not make it through the end of the month, Khoury often cleaned tables for his lunch.

His father, George A. Khoury, Sr., was a candy maker, famous for his peanut patties, who owned a store in the Allendale neighborhood in Shreveport, where he lived and raised his family. Khoury still gets calls about his father’s peanut patties and he still thinks of the Allendale community as his home.

Graduating from LSU Baton Rouge in 1951 with a degree in petroleum engineering, he worked hard as a petroleum engineer, saved, and invested smartly which has provided him with the ability to give back to Allendale and other communities and schools throughout Shreveport.

He created the George A. Khoury Foundation which provides funding to a variety of local churches, schools, and other non profit agencies. The Khoury Foundation has made substantial contributions to St. Jude's, Providence House, McDade House, Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church, St. John Berchman St. Vincent Project, Grace Community Church Mexico Missions, St. Catherine's, as well as various elementary schools, high schools, colleges, and universities.

The greatest impact of Mr. Khoury's philanthropy is his strong support of programs that help individuals improve the quality of their lives. Annually he gives numerous scholarships to students graduating from Fair Park, Booker T. Washington, and other area high schools.

At LSUS he has given significant support numerous programs on campus.He donated $120,000 to create an endowed professorship in the LSUS College of Sciences and another endowed professorship to support the LSUS American Humanics Program which provides assistance and training for nonprofit organizations in Northwest Louisiana. The professorships that he has established were matched by the Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund creating $200,000 in endowments at LSUS.

He has provided significant assistance to the LaPREP program to help Dr. Carlos Spaht in his endeavor to encourage disadvantaged middle school students to attend college by challenging them with summer courses and by introducing them early to the college application process.

He has also has donated more than $50,000 to establish the George Khoury Endowed Scholarship Fund in the College of Education and plans to endow the scholarship at $100,000.

He also funded the first marine research vessel to be utilized by the LSUS Red River Research Center. The R/V Khoury will allow the Center to conduct sophisticated water quality testing and is outfitted with state of the art instrumentation.

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