Two business and community leaders will receive honorary doctorates from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette during its Fall 2016 Commencement General Assembly on Friday.
UL Lafayette President Dr. Joseph Savoie will present honorary degrees to Lloyd J. “Red” Lerille and Donald Mosing during the General Assembly. It will begin at 11 a.m. at the Cajundome.
A 1987 graduate of the University, Lerille will receive an honorary doctorate of educational leadership. Lerille will also give the Commencement speech. He founded and operates one of the largest health clubs in the south, Red Lerille’s Health & Racquet Club.
Donald Mosing will receive an honorary doctorate in systems engineering. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University in 1950, which was known then as Southwestern Louisiana Institute.
Mosing was the longtime president of the family business known today as Frank’s International, N.V. The publicly traded company has 3,000 employees in 40 locations across the U.S. and around the world. He retired in 2011.
For over 50 years, Lerille has helped Acadiana residents get in shape and stay healthy.
A New Orleans native, Lerille began weight training as a boy. After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served on two submarines as an interior communication electrician.
Lerille won Mr. America and Mr. Universe titles in 1960. In 1963, he opened a small health club on Johnston Street with $200 and handmade equipment.
The next year, he purchased two acres on Doucet Road and built a 4,000-square-foot health club that opened in 1965. It now sits on 20 acres, has grown to about 200,000 square feet, and has about 200 employees.
Red Lerille’s Health & Racquet Club has hired thousands of UL Lafayette students and alumni. It sponsors many paid internships for students in the School of Kinesiology, and has championed University athletics and student events.
Lerille and wife Emma Davis Lerille established the Red Lerille’s Health & Racquet Club/BORSF Endowed Professorship in Health and Physical Education.
Emma Lerille and the couple’s four children, Kackie, Christine, Mark, and Stanley, all earned degrees from UL Lafayette.
Lerille received the UL Lafayette Alumni Association’s Outstanding Alumni Award in 2002 for service to the community and commitment to the University and its students. In 2011, he was honored at the Alumni Association’s Spring Gala.
Lerille received the Club Industry 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award, given annually to a person who has had a significant, sustained impact on the health club industry.
In 2013, he received the Lafayette Civic Cup Award from the Young Men’s Business Club. Established in 1933, the award is given each year to one person for contributions to the community.
A pilot, Lerille enjoys restoring antique airplanes. He also maintains several classic Harley-Davidsons.
Mosing lettered in football, and in track and field while enrolled at the University. After he earned a bachelor’s degree, he returned to work for the company where he had been employed since the age of 14, Frank’s Casing Crew & Rental Tools Inc.
His father, Frank Mosing, and his mother, Jessie Mosing, founded the oilfield services company in 1938. It “ran casing” in connection with the drilling of oil and gas wells. Frank’s was started in Lafayette on a shoestring budget and a leap of faith. In its early days, the company conducted business from the Mosing family home near Moss Street.
Donald Mosing, the oldest of the couple’s three sons, started working for Frank's in 1943. The company was short-staffed during World War II, and Mosing provided cheap labor. In 1950, with several casing jobs under his belt and a freshly minted degree from SLI, Mosing became a paid employee of the family business. He became president of Frank’s in 1989.
During his tenure with Frank’s, Mosing worked in every aspect of the company’s operations, from flying a float plane to call on customers in the bayous to designing and managing the manufacturing of oilfield equipment.
Mosing holds 40 patents, including one that was issued recently.
The Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition named him LAGCOE Looey for 1997-1999. LAGCOE Looey is the ceremonial host of the biennial event.
In 2011, “World Oil Magazine” recognized Mosing with its Lifetime Achievement Award.