Emma Brossard

Emma Beatriz Brossard (October 1, 1928 – November 15, 2007) was an American professor of politics and government at the Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge and noted expert on the Venezuelan oil industry.[2][3] She authored four monographs on the Venezuelan oil industry and its history. She was known for her criticisms of the Hugo Chavez administration and its policies in governing the Venezuelan oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, Sociedad Anónima (PDVSA).[3][4]

Emma Brossard
Brossard in 1979.
Born(1928-10-01)October 1, 1928
Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico, U.S.
DiedNovember 15, 2007(2007-11-15) (aged 79)
North Palm Beach, Florida
OccupationOil industry analyst
Children3
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisRómulo Betancourt: A Study in the Evolution of a Constitutional Statesman[1] (1971)
Academic work
Disciplinepolitics, government
Institutions

Early life and education

Emma Beatriz Brossard y Jacobsen was born on October 1, 1928 in Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico.[5][6] Her mother, Alice Thelma Jacobsen was of Danish and Venezuelan descent.[6] Her father, Eugene Eduard "Gene" Brossard, was a lawyer and former Attorney General of the State of Wisconsin.[3] Gene Brossard was the District Manager for Eastern Venezuela for the Mene Grande Oil Company, a subsidiary of Gulf Oil Corporation. A pilot, he mapped much of Venezuela from the air for oil exploration.[7] Through her father, Emma Brossard had an early introduction to the Venezuelan oil industry. Indeed, she was raised in Venezuela,[8] her great-great grandfather started the first oil company in Venezuela in 1878, and when Gene Brossard founded Mene Grande's oil camp San Tomé, Venezuela in 1940, the family moved there.[7]

Brossard received her Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1950, writing a dissertation on The Mene Grande Oil Company of Venezuela.[1] After graduation, she worked for Mene Grande in San Tomé, Venezuela.[9] On 21 November 1951, Brossard married law student, George I. Peterson at St. Raphael's Cathedral in Madison, Wisconsin.[9] Brossard and Peterson had three sons, all born in Venezuela.[3]

Brossard continued her education at Claremont Graduate University (CGU), earning an Education Certificate and a master's degree in Government in 1968.[10][5][11] Her master's thesis was titled The Military Government of Marcos Pérez Jiménez.[12] She received her doctorate in political science from CGU in 1971, writing her dissertation on Rómulo Betancourt, a former president of Venezuela.[1]

Academic career

From 1970 she served as chair of the political science department at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin. In 1973, she was hired as the assistant to the president at Hillsdale College in Michigan and from 1973 to 1975 she taught there as well.[5][13] From 1975 to 1982 she was visiting professor, and then associate professor of government, University of West Florida, Pensacola.[5][8] From 1982 until the end of her academic career in 1991, she was associate professor of government, Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge and served as the director of the policy analysis and planning division of the Center for Energy Studies.[14][15]

Brossard Petroleum Consultants

With her expertise in the Venezuelan oil industry, Brossard formed the Houston-based Brossard Petroleum Consultants, a firm that advised the Venezuelan petroleum industry.[16] Brossard's opinions on events in the oil industry, particularly those involving Venezuela, were often quoted in the media.[15][2][16][8][3]

Criticism of Chavez over oil industry
See also: Crisis in Venezuela

Brossard was an early critic of the oil policies of the president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez and its management of PDVSA.[11][3][4] Often writing in Spanish,[17] she argued that President Chavez was destroying the Venezuelan oil industry.[18][19] Brossard stated in 2005, "Venezuelan oil fields had a depletion rate of 25 per cent annually [and] there had to be an investment of US$3.4 billion a year to keep up its production." "But since Chavez has become president there has been no investment."[3] Brossard further commented that corruption was "phenomenal" in Venezuela, as Chavez and his government spent millions on themselves and thousands of businesses have been closed down.[3]

Death and legacy

Brossard died on November 15, 2007 in North Palm Beach, Florida[20] and was buried in her family's cemetery plot at St. Jerome's Catholic Cemetery, in Columbus, Wisconsin.[21] She was recognized as an "authority on the international oil trade."[15]

Books
  • E.B. Brossard (1983). Petroleum--Politics and Power. PennWell Books, 254 pp. ISBN 978-0-87814-224-8.
  • E.B. Brossard (1993). Petroleum research and Venezuela's INTEVEP: The Clash of the Giants. PennWell Books/INTEVEP, 211 pp. ISBN 978-0-87814-399-3.
  • E.B. Brossard (1994). (in Spanish) Ruta Y Destino De La Investigacion Petrolera En Venezuela. INTEVEP, 314 pp. ISBN 978-9802596447.
  • E.B. Brossard (2001). Power and Petroleum, Venezuela, Cuba and Colombia: A Troika? BookMasters, Inc., 254 pp. ISBN 978-0-96322-616-7

References
  1. W.M. Sullivan (1988). Dissertations and Theses on Venezuelan Topics, 1900-1985. Metuchen, New Jersey and London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 9780810820173.
  2. Arndt, M. (February 15, 1988). "Venezuela explores oil deals". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  3. Gooding, I. (August 25, 2005). "Grandmother slams Chavez 'He does not know one thing about the oil industry'". The Trinidad Guardian. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  4. Brossard, E. (February 17, 2005). "Lagniappe:Emma Brossard:Selling off Venezuela's jewels". Petroleumworld.com. Archived from the original on March 18, 2005. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  5. E.B. Brossard's papers at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University
  6. "Nacimientos 1927-1930: Emma Beatriz Brossard Y Jacobsen". FamilySearch (in Spanish). Santurce (San Juan), Puerto Rico: Registro Civil de Puerto Rico. October 18, 1921. p. 314. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  7. E.B. Brossard (1993). Petroleum research and Venezuela's INTEVEP: the clash of the giants. PennWell Books/INTEVEP. ISBN 978-0-87814-399-3.
  8. Dyke, David W. (May 22, 1979). "UWF Prof Plots Petroleum Politics (pt 1)". The Pensacola News Journal. Pensacola, Florida. p. D-1. Retrieved June 11, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Large Reception Follows Marriage of Emma Brossard and George Peterson". The Capital Times. Madison, Wisconsin. November 23, 1951. p. 13. Retrieved June 11, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Emma Brossard" (PDF). The Flame: The Magazine of Claremont Graduate University. 2005. p. 36. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  11. Brossard, E. B. (2001). Power and Petroleum: Venezuela, Cuba and Colombia, a Troika?. Albuquerque, New Mexico: Canaima Press. p. 234. ISBN 978-0-9632261-6-7.
  12. "Inventory of the E. B. Brossard papers". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  13. "Durant Upped to College VP". The Hillsdale Daily News. Hillsdale, Michigan. February 19, 1973. p. 1. Retrieved June 11, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Energy study center open". The Times. Shreveport, Louisiana. January 17, 1983. p. 6D. Retrieved June 11, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "LSU expert says many 'ifs' in recent OPEC agreement". Lafayette, Louisiana: The Daily Advertiser. August 7, 1986. p. 9. Retrieved June 11, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. M.L. Wald (June 27, 1988). "Texaco Deal: A New Saudi Strategy". The New York Times. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  17. (in Spanish)E.B. Brossard (1994). Ruta Y Destino De La Investigacion Petrolera En Venezuela. INTEVEP. ISBN 978-9-80259-644-7.
  18. (in Spanish)Brossard, E. (February 25, 2003). "Chávez destruye PDVSA". Libertad Digital. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  19. (in Spanish)Brossard, E. (October 6, 2003). "La brutalidad de Chávez". Libertad Digital. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  20. "United States Public Records, 1970-2009: Emma B. Brossard". FamilySearch. Salt Lake City, Utah: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. November 15, 2007. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  21. Axness, Anna Mae (September 14, 2016). "St. Jerome's Catholic Cemetery Columbus, Columbia County, Wisconsin". interment.net. Columbus, Wisconsin: Clear Digital Media, Inc. Archived from the original on March 31, 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
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