In Memory of Robert H. Baumann
Robert Baumann, who spent three decades at LSU overseeing its energy research center and lobbying for the university, passed away on Nov. 6, 2025.
Baumann spent the final chapter of his career lobbying the Legislature for his own
consulting firm, Hood Baumann & Associates, representing oil and gas companies.
Baumann’s clients included Shell Oil, ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66.
Many people in Baton Rouge associate Baumann mostly with LSU, where he headed the Center for Energy Studies and held other senior positions until he retired from the university in 2007.
In his role at the center, Baumann established close working relationships with the oil and gas companies that played an important role in Louisiana’s economy.
Legislators, business groups, public entities and others used the center’s reports and findings.
“Bob authored influential research, advised governors and legislatures and shaped major debates with a calm, steady clarity that made even the most complex oil and gas issues understandable,” said Tyler Gray, the newly named director of LSU’s Energy Institute and formerly secretary of the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy under Gov. Jeff Landry. “He was a tremendous mentor to generations of students, colleagues and policymakers.”
But Baumann was capable of fielding issues beyond energy, as then-Chancellor Jim Wharton recognized during the 1980s. Baumann became part of Wharton’s inner circle as Wharton overcame resistance from LSU’s Board of Supervisors to institute more selective admission standards requiring higher grades and test scores. Previously, anyone with a high school diploma could enter the university.
Wharton also began sending Baumann to the State Capitol when the Legislature was in session to win more funding for the university.
Wharton “saw Bob as a real asset. He was very good at talking with legislators,” said Jim Richardson, an economics professor at LSU for decades.
That might have been a surprise to anyone after first hearing his northeast accent. Baumann grew up in the New York City borough of Queens and graduated from the University of Rhode Island.
In 1974, he moved to Baton Rouge to do graduate studies at LSU in the wetlands and geography. Two years later, he began working at the university. He never returned to the northeast.
“He ultimately fell in love with LSU and the Baton Rouge community and things he was researching,” said his son Frank.
During his time at LSU, Baumann was especially close with Wharton but developed relationships with his successors as well.
“He was a confidante, friend and adviser to multiple leaders in the LSU system,” said Jay Dardenne, a former lieutenant governor and state senator who is a family friend.
Baumann is survived by his wife, Brenda, and his two sons, Frank and Kyle.
(Source: NOLA.com)
Online gifts will support the F. Malcolm Hood Memorial Endowed Scholarship.
You may also make a gift to the Robert H. Baumann Family Scholarship Fund, which provides an annual one-year scholarship to an outstanding student in the sciences. Gifts to this fund should be mailed to: LSU Alumni Association, 3838 W. Lakeshore Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808.
The LSU Foundation will share notices about memorial gifts with Mr. Baumann's family. We do not share the gift amount unless a donor explicitly gives us permission to do so.