Hotel & Conference Center Next to Kyle Field Named for Aggie Business Owner, Philanthropist
Hotel & Conference Center Next to Kyle Field Named for Aggie Business Owner, Philanthropist
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Aggie football fans, hotel guests and conference attendees will see the name of one of Texas A&M’s finest former students when they check into the new hotel and conference center adjacent to Kyle Field.
The Board of Regents of The Texas A&M University System unanimously voted Thursday to call the under-construction, luxury hotel the “Doug Pitcock ’49 Hotel and Conference Center.” Known for his national leadership in the field of transportation, James D. “Doug” Pitcock, Jr. has been an active and important part of Texas A&M since he was a student, and his love for the university remains strong today.
“It’s a privilege to emblazon the name of a great Aggie and generous man upon Texas A&M’s hotel and conference center,” Chancellor Sharp said. “Doug Pitcock’s support of Texas A&M University and his participation in creating the nation’s roadways will be remembered for generations to come.”
Mr. Pitcock was the first in his family to attend college, and he chose Texas A&M because he wanted “the best education,” as he has said. He was a member of the Corps of Cadets, American Society of Civil Engineers, Houston Hometown Club, and Saddle and Sirloin Club. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering.
Mr. Pitcock began his professional career in 1950 as a purchasing agent for the construction company Farnsworth & Chambers in Houston. He also he served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army from 1951 to 1952, before returning to Farnsworth & Chambers.
He later became co-founder, partner, president and CEO of Williams Brothers Construction, a company he built into one of the nation’s largest highway construction firms.
In 1976, Mr. Pitcock was appointed by President Gerald R. Ford to the National Transportation Policy Study Commission, and he served as national president of Associated General Contractors of America in 1984.
In 2002, he was named as one of “America’s Top Construction Professionals of the 20th Century” by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association. He also was inducted into the Texas Good Roads and Transportation Association Hall of Fame in 2004, the Texas Transportation Institute’s Hall of Honor in 2005, and he was honored as the “Houston Engineer of the Year” in 2006. Additionally, he was awarded the American Concrete Pavement Association’s Hartmann-Hirschman-Egan Award in 2016 for leadership in the transportation-construction industry.
Mr. Pitcock has funded numerous scholarships, fellowships and research projects at Texas A&M, and he has received several honors. He has been named as a Distinguished Graduate of Texas A&M’s Department of Civil Engineering and as an Outstanding Alumnus of the College of Engineering. He also was named to the Corps of Cadets Hall of Honor in 2004 and was selected as a Distinguished Alumnus of Texas A&M University in 2008. Further, Mr. Pitcock was a recipient of the Sterling C. Evans Medal in 2014, an honor recognizing him for his outstanding dedication to philanthropy at Texas A&M.
About The Texas A&M University System
The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with a budget of $4.55 billion. Through a statewide network of 11 universities and seven state agencies, the Texas A&M System educates more than 148,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. System-wide, research and development expenditures exceeded $972 million in FY 2016 and helped drive the state’s economy
Contact: Laylan Copelin
Vice Chancellor of Marketing and Communications
(979) 458-6425
(512) 289-2782 cell
lcopelin@tamus.edu