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 The Massad Family Library Research Center and Hospitality Industry
Archives Opens on the Campus of the University of Houston

A Gold Mine of Information for Scholars of the Hotel Industry

April 15, 2010 - Three years after announcing a $1.5 million gift to the Conrad N.  Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of  Houston, alumni Nick and Vicki Massad celebrated the opening of the  Massad Family Library Research Center and Hospitality Industry Archives surrounded by friends, family and supporters. 

Besides providing a venue for students to study, conduct research and  network, the new 4,000-square-foot facility houses personal and  corporate archives from some of the hotel and restaurant industry�s  most influential names.  These include Conrad Hilton of Hilton Hotels,  Holiday Inns founder Kemmons Wilson, Colonel Harlan Sanders, Four  Seasons Hotels chairman Isadore Sharp and Michael Rose, past chairman  of Gaylord Entertainment. 

�The college changed my life,� says Nick Massad, a 1973 graduate who  first learned of the college while working as a bellman at a Howard Johnson hotel in Arlington. �When I graduated, I always said that one  day I would give something back.� 

The Massad Family�s $1.5 million donation is the largest gift ever  presented to the college from a source other than the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and will also be used to provide ongoing technology and  faculty support to the new library.

Ironically, it was a $1.5 million donation from Conrad N. Hilton which  founded the school in 1969. 

�No other facility in the world contains the research and archival  resources dedicated exclusively to the hospitality industry,� says  Dean John Bowen. �It is a gold mine of information for students and  scholars of the industry as well as an important student and faculty recruiting tool.� 


L to R: Dr. Renu Khator, president of the University of Houston, 
Nick and Vicki Massad.

All five members of the Massad family are alumni of the Conrad N.  Hilton College. The family also established a Massad Family Endowed  Scholarship in 2004 and the Massad Family Professorship in 2008.  Today, Nick Massad owns Houston-based American Liberty Hospitality  which develops and operates an extensive portfolio of hotels  throughout the southwest.  Vicki Massad serves as the company�s Senior Vice President. 

Other prominent graduates of the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and  Restaurant Management at the University of Houston include Douglas Brooks, chairman of Brinker International; Bill Fortier, Senior Vice  President with Hilton Hotels Corporation; Todd Diener, president of  Chili�s; and top executives with Marriott Hotels, Outback Steakhouse,  Four Seasons Hotels and Sysco Corporation. 

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Contact: 

Anna Drake 
Phone 713.784.1077 
 

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Also See: Nick and Vicki Massad Gift $1.5 million to Conrad N. Hilton College at University of Houston; Gift to Greatly Enhance College�s Library and Hospitality Industry Archives / October 2007
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