Kenneth Uffman, the retired president and CEO of the Credit Bureau of Baton Rouge who was active in a multitude of community and civic organizations, died in Baton Rouge this morning at the age of 84.
Born in St. Louis, Uffman had been a Baton Rouge resident since 1946. His involvement in the community was wide ranging. Though the years, he was active with the Salvation Army, Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Jaycees, Toys for Tots, YMCA, Istrouma Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Louisiana Senior Olympics, United Way, Baton Rouge Alliance for Good Government and more.
His passion for financial literacy and education also led him to dedicate much of his time to the Baton Rouge Consumer Protection Center and Jump$tart Financial Literacy of Louisiana, and he was instrumental in guiding the LSU Student Financial Management Center after its founding in 2009, says center coordinator Emily Burris Hester.
“From the day I met him, he told me how seeing this center completed was a dream of his, and he was very much a part of making us who we are today,” Hester says. “He had a strong belief that financial literacy was at the heart of a lot of society’s problems, and he felt this was one area of people’s lives that they could learn more about and take more control of.”
Uffman’s financial acumen was surpassed perhaps only by his sense of duty to help others down a solid financial path.
“I was getting married when we were first introduced, and Mr. Ken noticed the ring right away and the first thing he asked me was if my fiancé and I had exchanged credit reports yet,” Hester recalls. “He just felt everyone should be financially literate.”
Uffman attended LSU and was a walk-on member of the varsity basketball team in the 1948-49 academic year. A 1950 graduate of the LSU journalism school, Uffman wrote for the college student newspaper, The Daily Reveille, and was inducted into the Manship School Hall of Fame in 1995. He was also a past president of the LSU Alumni Association.
Among many honors and awards, Uffman was a recipient of the National President’s Volunteer Service Award, the Golden Deeds Award, the National Conference of Christians and Jews Brotherhood Award, the Speech and Hearing Foundation’s Volunteer Activist Award and the American Cancer Society Best Dressed Award.
He leaves behind a wife, Grace Lyles Uffman, five sons, 15 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.
