Former LSU baseball player Newton Thomas, who founded one of the largest privately-owned specialty industrial construction companies in the United States, passed away on Saturday at the age of 81.
Thomas, who in 2015 was named LSU Alumnus of the Year and inducted into the LSU Alumni Hall of Distinction, graduated from University Lab School in 1962 and earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from LSU in 1967. While a student, he played catcher for the LSU baseball team, was a cheerleader, and was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity.
Thomas began his career with Southern Instruments, an industrial controls contracting company, as an estimating engineer. From 1967 to 1971, he held the positions of chief estimator, vice president of estimating and construction, general manager, and he was promoted to president in 1971.
In 1973, with two fellow LSU electrical engineering graduates, Thomas formed what is now the Newtron Group, one of the country’s largest privately owned specialty industrial construction companies.
Founded on ‘Core Values and Beliefs’ developed by Thomas, the Newtron Group has grown to a $1 billion company employing 4,500. It is one of the largest privately owned specialty electrical construction companies in the U.S. and is among the nation’s leading industrial electrical and instrumentation providers.
The company was founded on Thomas’ values, which hold that all employees should be treated with respect and dignity, and it has offices across Louisiana, Texas, California and Nevada.
Thomas was named in 2015 the LSU Alumnus of the Year, and he was inducted into the LSU Alumni Hall of Distinction. The LSU Alumnus of the Year designation is the highest honor awarded to an LSU graduate by the Alumni Association, and the Hall of Distinction recognizes alumni who have distinguished themselves and LSU through their careers, personal and civic accomplishments, volunteer activities, and their loyalty to their alma mater.
The Newtron Group has garnered numerous awards, including Business Report’s Large Private Company of the Year Award, the Louisiana Free Enterprise Company of the Year Award, and the first Baton Rouge Better Business Bureau Manship Ethics in Business Award. In 2012, ENR Magazine ranked the Newtron Group the seventh largest industrial electrical contractor in the country.
Thomas was founding chairman of the Dean’s Advisory Council of the LSU College of Engineering and a member of the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Advisory Board. He was inducted into the LSU College of Engineering Hall of Distinction in 1994.
He served on the Board of Trustees and was past chairman of AMIkids of Baton Rouge, a non-profit rehabilitation program for adjudicated youth in the juvenile justice system, as well as past chairman of AMIkids National Board of Trustees and Executive Committee. For his work with youth, Thomas received President George H.W. Bush’s 1,000 Points of Light award.
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