Richard H. Gallot Sr. was an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, a public servant. He made a living as a self-employed businessman. His primary job: barber.
His wife, Dr. Mildred Gallot, once head of Grambling State University’s history department, insisted their marriage had to include him earning a college degree. Like a good husband, he agreed.
Talk about a nontraditional student. He was in his mid-30s with a wife and three children and running multiple businesses when he entered Grambling State University. He graduated. He eventually became Grambling’s third mayor. His son, Richard “Rick” Gallot Jr., became a state legislator and 10th president of Grambling State University.
The elder Gallot died last month at 87, emblematic of a generation of can-do entrepreneurs who pushed against restrictions on African Americans in business and other parts of civic life.
A U.S. Army veteran, he was well known throughout Grambling and northern Louisiana before there was a GSU President Rick Gallot. At times it seemed he was everywhere doing some of everything — at a motel, in stores, and of course at a barber shop.
President Gallot said his family started a scholarship fund for nontraditional students at GSU’s College of Business to encourage students pursuing different academic paths.
Mayor Gallot should be remembered as an exemplar of the can-do generation of African Americans who embraced enterprises large and small after World War II.
“He was a firm believer in the power of ownership,” his son said. That spirit should live on.
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