the (NAM) Member of the 25 Year Club of the Petroleum Industry Member of the Kentucky Coal Policy Council and the Kentucky Economic Development Corporation Philanthropy McCowan never forgot his connections to the University of Kentucky, and as an Ashland, Inc. executive, urged the company to support the university by bestowing the university's first $1 million corporate gift. In 1993, McCowan and his late wife, Nyle, personally donated financially to the UK Sanders–Brown Center on Aging. Recognition Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Kentucky in 1978 Distinguished Alumni Award in 1978 UK Hall of Distinguished Alumni on April 11, 1980 In 1988, he was named “Business Citizen of the Year” by Beta Gamma Sigma Inducted into the Gatton College Alumni Hall of Fame in 1994 References External links Kentucky Oral History Project: Interview of Robert T. McCowan|Ashland, Inc. Retirement Video Interview w/ Robert T. McCowan (Part 1)| Ashland, Inc. Retirement Video Interview w/ Robert T. McCowan (Part 2) 1928 births 2003 deaths University of Kentucky alumni Omicron Delta Kappa Businesspeople from Kentucky People from Nicholas County, Kentucky 20th-century American businesspeople