William S. Patout III

William Schwing "Billy" Patout, III
Born (1932-10-15) October 15, 1932
New Iberia
Iberia Parish
Louisiana, USA
Alma mater Louisiana State University
Occupation Sugar grower
Political party Republican[1]
Spouse(s) Susan Crawford Patout (married 1969)
Children

William Patout, IV
Rivers Martin Patout
Avrill Elizabeth Patout
Catherine Josephine Patout
Hester Caroline Patout
Susan Anne Marie Patout

Simeon Crawford Patout
Parent(s) William S., Jr., and Hester Catherine Bernadas Patout

William Schwing Patout, III, also known as Billy Patout (born October 15, 1932, in New Iberia, Louisiana), is one of the last living Louisiana sugar barons. His family began operating M. A. Patout Enterprise in 1832. The firm is now run by a non-family member president and board of trustees, but Patout himself continues to serve as a member of the board of directors and as a consultant. The directors remain family members.

Early years

Patout is the oldest son of William S. Patout, Jr., and the former Hester Catherine Bernadas. In his eighth year, his family moved to Patoutville in Iberia Parish, where he developed his interest in the sugar industry, as had his family for nearly two centuries earlier.

In his autobiography entitled, Now You Know, he describes some of the childhood adventures that occurred while he lived on a sugar plantation. While the book is disjointed, contrived from letters that Patout wrote, certain sections transport the reader back to a different time. An excerpt:

When I was a child, the mill and quarters were surrounded by a fence with gates. There were always little boys around the gate area, and they would open them for you. Usually a 5-cent tip was given. The reason for the fence was to keep the cattle in. […] the practice was always a contention with the mill workers as the cattle would get in the factory and "mess" everywhere.

Personal life

Patout served in the United States Navy from 1954 to 1955. He married Susan Ann Crawford of Indiana in 1969 and together they reared seven children: William Schwing, IV, Rivers Martin, Avrill Elizabeth, Catherine Josephine, Hester Caroline, Susan Anne Marie, and Simeon Crawford. There are fifteen grandchildren. His main hobby is aviation.

Business

After studying Agricultural Engineering at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and sugar technology and business management in Hawaii, Patout began his career with the M. A. Patout Company in 1956. He worked there as an assistant engineer for three years before moving on to become an engineer for Brewer & Co. in Honolulu, Hawaii from 1959 to 1960. he moved from company to company to gain work experience before settling back with his family's company from 1970 until 2001. He started as an assistant general manager and worked his way up to president and chief executive officer/general manager.

The years between 1960 and 1970 he spent in the following positions:

Patout is credited with saving M. A. Patout during his tenure: Despite drought, crop disease, hurricanes, freezes, low sugar prices, and the loss of land because of pressure from residential and commercial developments, Patout was able to expand the company. He acquired Sterling Sugars, Inc., from former Governor Mike Foster and Raceland Sugars. He increased the sugar-growing acreage from 12,000 to 56,000.

Perhaps Patout's greatest accomplishment is leading his flagship factory, the Enterprise mill in Patoutville, to become the first and only factory to mill two million tons of cane and be the only cane diffuser operating in North America.

Patout sits on the board of M. A. Patout and is an active consultant for sugar businesses around the world. He has advised many nations, including the Peoples' Republic of China, the United States Department of Commerce; and private companies in Jamaica and Mexico.

Patout has seen the following changes occur in the sugar industry since 1956:

  1. Steam turbines replaced steam engines on the milling tandems
  2. Diffusers replaced milling tandems
  3. Continuous vacuum pans replaced batch pans
  4. Shredders replaced two-roll crushers
  5. New vertical crystallizers replaced horizontal crystallizers

Patout has argued that Biomass, Bioplastic, renewable energy and cellulose ethanol can boost the U.S. sugar industry.

M. A. Patout

M. A. Patout & Sons, Ltd. is the 18th oldest family-owned company in the United States and was incorporated in 1910. It began when Simeon Patout moved his family from France, where he ran a winery, to Isle Picante in Louisiana in the late 1820s. He began growing sugar cane and built a sugar mill. The area was renamed Patoutville.

When Simeon died of yellow fever in 1847, his wife Appoline took over the company, and under her direction, it continued to grow. Her son Hippolyte ran the company for a short time before he, too, succumbed to the disease, after which his widow, Mary Ann Schwing Patout, assumed control. She was extremely successful, becoming the United States' first female member of a bank board and later its president. After her stint as head of M. A. Patout, the company was run by family members (in chronological order) Hippolyte Jr., William S. Patout, William S. Patout Jr., and William S. Patout III. Billy Patout then hired non-family member, Craig P. Caillier, to head the operations.

Today M. A. Patout runs three sugar mills which produce about a third of the sugar in the state of Louisiana (450,000 tons per year).

Awards & other activities

Patout won the Dyer Memorial "Sugar Man of the Year" award in 2007[2][3] and various other Louisiana awards throughout his career.

Excluding M. A. Patout, Patout has been involved with:

References

  1. ↑ "William Patout, October 1932". Louisiana Secretary of State. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  2. ↑ Schmidt, Kathrine (1 June 2008). "Retired Patoutville exec gets sugar award". Houma Today. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
  3. ↑ Leleux-Thubron, Holly (22 May 2008). "The Sugar Man". Daily Iberian. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
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