“We
had been on a basketball road trip where you play a Wednesday and a Saturday,” said the former Owls’ captain and, since July 1, chairman of the Rice Board of Trustees. “I think we went to California. We left on Tuesday morning and didn’t get back until Sunday. So I had missed Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. “When I got back, pre-email, there was a note in my box from Professor (John) Parish,” Tudor said. “I was taking a class in Milton with him and the note said, ‘You missed two very important lectures. If you’ll come to my office Monday afternoon at 3, I’ll give them to you.’ And he didn’t mean he’d give me notes. I showed up at his office at 3 and sat there for two hours and he did the lectures. “That’s crazy, right? Where else does that kind of thing happen? Not all that many places. It really does speak to the dedication of Rice faculty to their students. That’s the kind of thing that really sticks with you when you’re a 20-year-old kid.” Tudor exemplifies such dedication to the present day. He’s a builder by nature — his Louisiana family has been in the construction business for four generations — but doesn’t wear a hard hat. Instead, he’s building on his work as a Rice trustee and co-chair (with Susie Morris Glasscock ’62) of the successful $1 billion Centennial Campaign. “Bobby and [his wife] Phoebe command extraordinary respect across Houston as generous and thoughtful philanthropists,” said Rice President David Leebron of Tudor’s appointment earlier this year. “At Rice, we have benefited from his role on the board and leadership of the Centennial Campaign. His experiences as a student– athlete, in the financial world and as a builder of a business make him a great choice to lead the board as we enter our second century, and I am excited to have the opportunity to work closely with him.” Up close, Tudor is easygoing, but his résumé reveals a high-powered achiever. His job as chair-