Murray Free Hawkins Jr. died in March at age 95. He was the co-author of a world-renowned textbook, “Applied Petroleum Reservoir Engineering,” and a professor at Louisiana State University for more than 30 years. The text, co-authored with B.C. Craft Sr., has been in continuous print for more than 50 years. An LSU graduate, he worked for Carter Oil Co.’s research labs before serving in World War II. He returned to LSU in 1946 as a professor and was the head of the petroleum engineering department from 1964 to 1977. He was also the director of the LSU Geology Camp in Colorado for many years.

In 1998, LSU alumni were involved in renaming the department they presided over as the Craft and Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering. Hawkins received many honors during his career, including the Halliburton Award for Teaching Excellence. He was also named a distinguished member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).