Davidson to receive honorary degree from MSU-Meridian
May 4—Mississippi State University-Meridian will award its first ever honorary doctorate degree to Meridian businessman Martin "Marty" Davidson during spring commencement exercises next week at the MSU Riley Center.
MSU President Mark E. Keenum will present the honorary Doctor of Public Service degree to Davidson, chairman of Southern Pipe & Supply Company, during MSU-Meridian's spring graduation at 11 a.m. Thursday, May 9.
Altogether, 200 undergraduate and graduate MSU-Meridian students will receive degrees during the ceremony.
"Mr. Davidson is a visionary business leader, a pillar of his community and major benefactor of Mississippi State University," Keenum said in a news release. "This is the highest recognition that our university can bestow upon an individual, and Mr. Davidson is most deserving."
Davidson, a member of the Mississippi Business Hall of Fame, is chairman of the board of Southern Pipe, one of the largest privately held, independent wholesalers of plumbing, heating and air-conditioning materials in the Southeast with more than 100 locations in seven states.
"Mr. Davidson's story is of humble beginnings, working in a business created by his grandfather, father and uncle, stocking shelves at the age of 5," Terry Dale Cruse, MSU-Meridian associate vice president and head of campus, said in the release. "At this tender age he no doubt had already heard tales from his grandfather, who immigrated from Russia at age 20 during a heightened time of Jewish persecution. That is perhaps what cultivated Marty's profound sense of philanthropy."
Cruse said Davidson and his wife, Linda, have left a generous footprint on the MSU-Meridian campus, and as members of Friends of the Lady Society, they have been faithful philanthropists to the MSU Riley Center.
"As a board member of the Phil Hardin Foundation, Mr. Davidson has worked to advance and expose the arts to school-aged children in multi-county areas throughout East Central Mississippi and West Alabama," Cruse added.
A Lauderdale County native, Davidson represents the third generation of his family to lead Southern Pipe. He is a past president of both the Southern Wholesaler Association and the East Mississippi Business Development Corp. He also is a past recipient of the EMBDC's Hartley Peavey Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence. In 2011, he was presented with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, an award bestowed by the Ellis Island Honors Society annually in recognition of contributions made by immigrants and their children.
Davidson currently serves as president of The Riley Foundation, which has been a major supporter of Mississippi State and its Meridian campus. The partnership between the foundation and the university has led to the development of the downtown Riley Campus and MSU-Meridian's Health Sciences Division.
"I just want this world to be a better place when I leave it than when I came into it," Davidson said. "If I have done that, it will have been a life well lived."
MSU-Meridian's graduation ceremony will be livestreamed at mstv.msstate.edu, on the MSTV app and on the university's main Facebook page.
Contact Glenda Sanders at gsanders@themeridianstar.com.
