By nature he was a dreamer and a realist—a happy combination which endowed him with vision and the ability to carry his out plans.
The strict discipline of Cadet life at the Seminary gave Thomas Boyd great experience for his future role as Commandant of Cadets.
Born in 1854 in Wytheville, Virginia, Thomas was the brother of David French Boyd. As a young boy, he developed a love for baseball and he later played briefly for the Modoc ball club in Wytheville.
In 1868, David Boyd took Thomas under his wing in Louisiana. He performed so well on his entrance exam that he was admitted as a sophomore at the age of 14.
In 1875, Thomas Boyd was appointed acting Commandant of Cadets, becoming Colonel Thomas Boyd. At 22 years of age, he wrote in his diary that he felt he had not done anything worthwhile with his life. But his spirits were lifted when he met Miss Annie Fuqua, his future bride.
Thomas Boyd resigned from LSU to become the president of the Louisiana Normal School in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Thomas and Annie Boyd had married in 1882 and begun their family. Committed to improving the public school system in Louisiana, he helped form the Louisiana Teachers’ Institute at the Normal School and was responsible for the first educational outreach in the state.
Until the establishment of the Normal School and President Thomas Boyd’s leadership, nothing had been done by the state to provide for the education of women beyond the meager opportunities of the existing public education.
In 1904, because of his interest in the education of women while at the Normal School earlier in his career, Thomas Boyd arranged for Olivia Davis to attend class on the campus of LSU. Rebecca Olivia Davis was allowed to do graduate work at LSU in 1904-1905. The first woman student in its history, she went on to complete her degree and opened the doors for other women students. She was the first woman to graduate from LSU and the first to receive a master’s degree. One of the reasons she was allowed to enroll is because she was older and thought not to be a distraction to the male students. That was one of the arguments against allowing women to enroll. Although Davis was the first woman to study at LSU, in 1906 and thereafter, women didn’t have to receive special permission to enter. They became eligible to officially be admitted as LSU students and were allowed to enroll without having to gain special permission.
LSU invited Boyd to become president in 1896. He wrote to David Boyd that he felt “it was a matter of duty…. I thought I might do something to bring back to the University the confidence and affection of the old cadets.”
Thomas restored discipline in the Cadet Corps. The Audubon Sugar School in New Orleans was moved to LSU and publication of The Reveille, the weekly student newspaper, was resumed after a 25-year absence. His devotion to duty captured the admiration of all those connected with LSU.One of the outstanding achievements of Thomas Boyd’s long career changed the way LSU was funded. He proposed a tax in the new state constitution that would be dedicated to the University, securing funds for the growing institution.
President Boyd guided the reorganization of LSU into separate colleges and schools of specific study. The most important addition in this decade was the establishment of the Law School in 1906.
One of the great moments in LSU history came in 1922 when President Boyd’s plan for the “Greater University” was created. The dedication of the new University was the crowning event in Thomas Boyd’s life. Thomas Boyd retired as president of LSU on August 1, 1926. He was 73 years old.
His wife of 49 years, Annie, died on March 31, 1931. One year later, Thomas Duckett Boyd died on November 2, 1932.