Aubrey M. Kerr, Sr. Endowed Scholarship Established with $500,000 Gift

For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Evie Holzer, (405) 831-0709 or eholzer@ou.edu

NORMAN – The Aubrey K. McClendon and Aubrey M. Kerr, Jr. families have given a gift of $500,000 to the University of Oklahoma College of Law to honor the late lawyer, businessman and politician Aubrey M. Kerr, Sr.  Beginning with the 2012-13 academic year, the Aubrey M. Kerr, Sr. Endowed Scholarship will award $25,000 annually to students with a demonstrated interest in energy and natural resources law.

“We thank the McClendon and Kerr families for such a meaningful gift honoring Aubrey M. Kerr, Sr.,” said OU Law Dean Joseph Harroz, Jr. “His impact is interwoven into the history of the OU College of Law and the state of Oklahoma, and this gift ensures that his legacy will benefit future generations of OU Law students.”

OU Law is an international leader in energy and natural resources law, preparing students to be leaders in law and policy in the field, Harroz noted.

The scholarships will be awarded to incoming and current students in the juris doctor program and John B. Turner LL.M. program, which specializes in energy, natural resources and indigenous peoples law. OU’s LL.M. program is the first of its kind in the country.

Kerr was born in a log cabin on August 3, 1900, in Ada, Indian Territory. After graduating from East Central State College, he attended the OU College of Law, where he graduated in 1928.  He was a member and captain of one of OU’s first Ruf-Nek squads and president of the Student Council and Independents Association.

Following graduation, he was a founding member of the Ada law firm of Kerr, Lamberts, Conn, and Roberts of Ada and Oklahoma City.  He served in the House of Representatives of the state of Oklahoma from 1932 to 1938.  He was the campaign coordinator for Robert S. Kerr in his successful races for Governor and United States Senate representing the state of Oklahoma.  He was a 32nd degree Mason and president of the Royal Order of the Elks. 

His children were Margaret Kerr Boylan, late of Washington, D.C., Carole Kerr McClendon of Oklahoma City and mother to Aubrey K. McClendon, Ann Kerr of Chicago and Aubrey M. Kerr, Jr. of Oklahoma City.  Kerr passed away on May 2, 1975.