Louis Valvelle Sutton

Louis Valvelle Sutton (August 6, 1889 – January 5, 1970) was an American engineer and electric utility executive who served as the head of Carolina Power & Light from 1933 to 1969.

Early life Louis Valvelle Sutton was born on August 6, 1889, in Richmond, Virginia, United States, to Lee Edwards Sutton and Ella Wagner Sutton. When he was 14, the family moved to Petersburg. He graduated from the Petersburg Academy and secured a degree in electrical engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1910. He married Cantey McDowell Venable on April 30, 1912, and had two children with her.

Career Sutton initially trained as an apprentice engineer for General Electric in Lynn, Massachusetts. Once he was married, he became keen on living in North Carolina (where his wife was from). He visited Paul A. Tillery, chief engineer of Carolina Power & Light (CP&L), to personally request a job. He took work as a statistician with the utility Many state newspapers credited Scott with coining the phrase, though some of Sutton's older coworkers had used it in years prior. He was buried at Montlawn Memorial Park in Raleigh.