Robert Baumann, who spent three decades at LSU overseeing its energy research center and lobbying for the university, died last week in Baton Rouge. He was 74.

Baumann spent the final chapter of his career lobbying the Legislature for his own consulting firm, Hood Baumann & Associates, representing oil and gas companies.

At the time of his death on Nov. 6 from congestive heart failure, Baumann’s clients included Shell Oil, ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66.

Many people in Baton Rouge associate Baumann mostly with LSU, where he headed the Center for Energy Studies and held other senior positions until he retired from the university in 2007.

In his role at the center, Baumann established close working relationships with the oil and gas companies that played an important role in Louisiana’s

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