Virgil L. Orr (February 2, 1923 – April 24, 2021) was an American politician and academic. He was a professor of engineering and administrator at

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activ ...

Ruston Ruston may refer to: Place names ;United States * Ruston, Louisiana * Ruston, Washington ;United Kingdom * East Ruston, Norfolk, England * Ruston, North Yorkshire, England * Ruston Parva, East Riding of Yorkshire, England Companies * Ruston (engi ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, and served as a Democratic member of the

Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (french: link=no, Chambre des Représentants de Louisiane) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 repr ...

for District 12 ( Lincoln and

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

parishes) between 1988 and 1992.

Early life and academic career

Orr was born in Glenmora,

Rapides Parish Rapides Parish () (french: Paroisse des Rapides) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 131,613. The parish seat is Alexandria, which developed along the Red River of the South. ''Rapides' ...

in February 1923. There he graduated from Glenmora High School in 1940. He became a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

at Louisiana Tech, whilst he had also worked as a waiter to pay his student expenses. He then achieved a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

degree and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

in 1948 and 1950. Orr served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

from 1944 to 1946. He also attended the Oak Ridge Institute for Nuclear Studies in Oak Ridge,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

."Louisiana: Orr, Virgil", ''Who's Who in American Politics, 2003-2004'', 19th ed., Vol. 1 (Alabama-Montana) (Marquis Who's Who:

New Providence New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It is the location of the national capital city of Nassau, whose boundaries are coincident with the island; it had a population of 246 ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, 2003), p. 790 In September 1952, Orr joined the Louisiana Tech faculty. In 1966, he co-authored the article, "Vapor–Liquid Equilibrium for the Hexamethyldisiloxane–''n''-Propyl Alcohol System", with colleagues Woodrow W. Chew, Jr. and Charles A. Killgore, which was published in the ''Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data''. He was subsequently appointed to the role of dean of the college and served as vice president, under

F. Jay Taylor F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet. F may also refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * F or f, the number 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems * ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function * F-distribution, a cont ...

, before retiring in June 1980. Louisiana Tech would later honor Orr with the Virgil Orr Professorship in Chemical Engineering and the Virgil Orr Undergraduate Junior Faculty Award. In 1991, Orr was the recipient of the Robert E. Russ award, and three years later the Louisiana Tech Alumni Association awarded him the Tower Medallion. The following year he appeared on Louisiana Tech's Top 100 Alumni list. During 1994–1995, Orr took on the role of President of the Louisiana Tech Foundation.

Politics

Orr contested the nonpartisan blanket primary in October 1987, and received 5,846 votes (44%), comfortably beating incumbent William R. Sumlin's 4,176 votes (31%). As a result, Sumlin did not contest the November election, and Orr was automatically declared representative-elect without a second round of voting. In October 1991, he was himself defeated in a primary, by

Jay McCallum Jay Bowen McCallum (born June 6, 1960) is an associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, and a former Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives. Education and legal career McCallum received his undergraduate degree ...

, a fellow Democrat and lawyer. He received 8,286 votes (52%) to Orr's 7,528 (48%). Orr served a single term on the Louisiana Ethics Board after finishing his term in the legislature. In 2010, he was appointed to the Lincoln Parish Library Board.

Personal life

Orr and his wife, the former Myrtis Chandler (1924-2022), lived in Ruston, where Orr taught Sunday school at the Temple Baptist Church. The Louisiana Tech Alumni Association awarded Myrtis Orr with the Tower Medallion in 2018, which Virgil Orr had received some years prior. He died on April 24, 2021, at the age of 98.Dr. Virgil Orr obituary
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orr, Virgil 1923 births 2021 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II American chemical engineers Baptists from Louisiana Louisiana Democrats Louisiana Republicans Louisiana State University alumni Louisiana Tech University alumni Louisiana Tech University faculty Members of the Louisiana House of Representatives People from Rapides Parish, Louisiana Politicians from Ruston, Louisiana United States Army soldiers