James Ketelsen

James Ketelsen – namesake for HISD’s Ketelsen Elementary School, Project GRAD founder, and a longtime public education champion and businessman – has died at the age of 86.

The retired chairman of the board for Tenneco, Ketelsen served as a University of Houston System regent and on a number of state education commissions and task forces.

During his tenure at Tenneco, Ketelsen and his wife, Kathryn, founded Project GRAD, which began in 1989 as a scholarship program that was offered to every graduating senior at Davis (now Northside) High School to help them attend college. Continue reading →