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Line 26: − + − + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + − After leaving NSU, he worked as a financial advisor for AXA Equitable Insurance. He is an inductee of the NSU Hall of Distinguished Educators.<ref name=bio/> He died of a lengthy illness at the age of eighty-five.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=robert-alost&pid=196075199&fhid=10224|title=Robert Alost obituary|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=April 25, 2020|accessdate=April 26, 2020}}</ref> Line 36:
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{{Infobox officeholder
{{Infobox officeholder
|name=Robert A. Alost
|name=Robert Allen "Bobby" Alost
|birth_date=February 20, 1935
|birth_date=February 20, 1935
|birth_place=[[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]]
|birth_place=[[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]]
Resident of [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]], [[Louisiana]]
Resident of [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]], [[Louisiana]]
|death_date=April 10, 2020 (aged 85)
|death_date=April 10, 2020 (aged 85)
|death_place=Place of death not mentioned in obituary
|death_place=Place of death not mentioned in obituary, presumably Natchitoches
|alma_mater=Northwestern State University<br>
[[Louisiana State University]]
|resting_place=Not mentioned in obituary
|resting_place=Not mentioned in obituary
|religion=Not mentioned in obituary
|religion=Not mentioned in obituary
}}
}}
'''Robert A. Alost''' (February 20, 1935 – April 10, 2020)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/robert-alost/e9495953268|title=Robert Alost|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=April 26, 2020}}</ref> was the 16th president of [[Northwestern State University]] in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]], [[Louisiana]], with service for the decade from 1986 until his retirement in 1996.
'''Robert Allen Alost''', known as '''Bobby Alost''' (February 20, 1935 – April 10, 2020),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/robert-alost/e9495953268|title=Robert Alost|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=April 26, 2020}}</ref> was the 16th president of [[Northwestern State University]] in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]], [[Louisiana]], with service for the decade from 1986 until his retirement in 1996.
As president, Alost worked with two [[Democratic Party|Democrats]], state Representative Jimmy Dale Long, Sr. (1931-2016) and state Senators [[Francis C. Thompson]] of Delhi in Richland Parish and Donald Gene Kelly of Natchitoches, and [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[Governor]] [[David C. Treen]], to open the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts in an older building on the NSU campus. Alost was director of LSMSA from its inception in 1982 until he was named president of the university four years later. Earlier, from 1975 to 1982, he was the dean of the College of Education.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=https://traditions.nsula.edu/the-hall-of-distinguished-educators.html|title=The Hall of Distinguished Educators|publisher=Traditions.nsula.edu|accessdate=February 20, 2018}}</ref>
As a Northwestern faculty member, Alost worked with hree [[Democratic Party|Democrats]], state Representative Jimmy Dale Long, Sr. (1931-2016) and state Senators [[Francis C. Thompson]] of Delhi in Richland Parish and Donald Gene Kelly of Natchitoches, and [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[Governor]] [[David C. Treen]], to open the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts in an older building on the NSU campus. Alost was director of LSMSA from its inception in 1982 until he was named president of the university four years later. Earlier, from 1975 to 1982, he was the dean of the NSU College of Education.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=https://traditions.nsula.edu/the-hall-of-distinguished-educators.html|title=The Hall of Distinguished Educators|publisher=Traditions.nsula.edu|accessdate=February 20, 2018}}</ref>
Author [[Rod Dreher]], a native of [[Baton Rouge]], entered LSMSA in 1983 at the age of sixteen at the inception of the institution. In his blog, ''The American Conservative,'' Dreher describes how Alost impacted Dreher's life:
<blockquote>
Bobby Alost’s school was not the kind of thing you expect in a poor Southern state: a public boarding school for gifted and talented kids. But there it was, and there a couple hundred of us were, excited, maybe even a little frightened, out at his house in the pine woods, on a lake, on a warm autumn weekend, trying to get used to our new family. ...
The LSMSA academics were superlative. This was a high school that taught college-style, and featured classes on [[William Faulkner]], [[Walker Percy]], Russian history, and and so on. They figured students could handle it, and mostly they were right ... Imagine a school where the teachers didn’t have to spend half their time trying to get students to settle down and listen. Where you were encouraged to ask questions, because nobody was going to make fun of you for being smart. And imagine being in a high school with a pretty diverse set of kids from all around the state, not all of whom would be your friends, but none of whom would be your enemy.
The autumn that I arrived at Bobby Alost’s school was the first time in my life that I felt that I truly belonged somewhere. That I had found my tribe. Dr. Alost, as we all called him, was a big, husky, papa bear figure who was the embodiment of our new home. He was our Big Chief. It’s funny, because he didn’t make a habit of getting too involved in the lives of his students, but then, he didn’t really have to in order to make an impression on us. We all knew that LSMSA existed because he had a dream, and he fought for it, and inspired good people ... to fight alongside him, and to nurture alongside him.
He showed me mercy once. There was quite a drinking culture among high school students in Louisiana back then. Liquor was strictly forbidden at LSMSA ... [After a romantic breakup, I was] depressed ... I went out and bought some booze. The head RA of my dorm caught me with it before I could drink a drop. That was my second offense. I could have been expelled for good, with only a few months till graduation. Had that happened, I would have done it to myself. But Dr. Alost decided to let me stay, when he did not have to. Like I said, I owed him a lot.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/lsmsa-robert-alost/|author=Rod Dreher|title=Rpbert Alost, 1935-2020|publisher=''The American Conservative''|date=April 21, 2020|accessdate=April 26, 2020}}</ref></blockquote
After retiring from NSU, Alost was a financial advisor for AXA Equitable Insurance. He is an inductee of the NSU Hall of Distinguished Educators.<ref name=bio/> He died of a lengthy illness at the age of eighty-five.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=robert-alost&pid=196075199&fhid=10224|title=Robert Alost obituary|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=April 25, 2020|accessdate=April 26, 2020}}</ref>
On Alost's passing, current NSU President [[Chris Maggio]] said that all NSU alumni "owe Dr. Alost a debt of gratitude for guiding and advocating for our university. He was a mentor to me personally and professionally and a strong leader through uncertain times at NSU.”<ref name=ntimes>{{cite web|url=https://www.natchitochestimes.com/2020/04/18/former-nsu-president-dr-robert-alost-dies/|title=Former NSU president Dr. Robert Alost dies|author=Leah Jackson|publisher=''The Natchitoches Times''|date=April 18, 2020|accessdate=April 26, 2020}}</ref>
[[Jim Henderson]], a former NSU president who now heads the University of Louisiana System, said that Alost guided NSU "through a difficult era, and established a standard of not just surviving adversity, but thriving in its midst. He was simultaneously imposing and infinitely approachable. Personally, I am forever grateful for his mentorship and friendship.”<ref name=ntimes/>
==References==
==References==
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Educators]]
[[Category:Educators]]
[[Category:Professors]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Business People]]