Sid Williams Richardson (April 25, 1891 – September 30, 1959) was an American businessman and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

known for his association with the city of

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

Life and career

A native of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

in east Texas, Richardson attended

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of th ...

and

Simmons College Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include: * Simmons University, a women's liberal arts college in Boston, Massachusetts * Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black college in Louisville, Kentucky * Har ...

from 1910 to 1912. With borrowed money, he and a business partner,

Clint Murchison Sr. Clinton Williams "Clint" Murchison Sr. (April 11, 1895 – June 20, 1969) was a noted Texas-based oil magnate and political operative. Among his companies was the Southern Union Company. He was also the father of Dallas Cowboys owner Clint ...

, amassed $1 million in the oil business in 1919–1920, but then watched their fortunes wane with the oil market, until business again boomed in 1933. Richardson was president of Sid Richardson Gasoline Co. in Kermit, Sid Richardson Carbon Company in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

, and Sid W. Richardson, Inc., in

, and was a partner in Fort Worth-based Richardson and Bass Oil Producers. He began ranching in the 1930s and developed a love of

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

art, particularly that of

Frederic Remington Frederic Sackrider Remington (October 4, 1861 – December 26, 1909) was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in the genre of Western American Art. His works are known for depicting the Western United Sta ...

and

Charles M. Russell Charles Marion Russell (March 19, 1864 – October 24, 1926), also known as C. M. Russell, Charlie Russell, and "Kid" Russell, was an American artist of the American Old West. He created more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Native Americans, an ...

. He built one of the largest private collections of these artists' work, which opened to the public as the Sid Richardson Collection of Western Art in 1982. After a yearlong renovation, it reopened as the

Sid Richardson Museum The Sid Richardson Museum is located in historic Sundance Square in Fort Worth, Texas, and features permanent and special exhibitions of paintings by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, as well as other late 19th and early 20th-century art ...

in 2006. Richardson had already given numerous scholarships and gifts to local organizations when friend Amon G. Carter persuaded him to establish the Sid W. Richardson Foundation in 1947. The foundation awards grants to Texas organizations in the areas of education, health, human services, and cultural institutions; grants in the latter two categories are restricted to groups in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex area. The foundation's Fort Worth headquarters shares a building with the Sid Richardson Museum. Upon his death aged 68 in 1959, Richardson, a bachelor, bequeathed a large portion of his estate to his foundation, and left several million dollars to his

nephew In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of the subject's sibling or sibling-in-law. The converse relationship, the relationship from the niece or nephew's perspective, is that of ...

-partner,

Perry Richardson Bass Perry Richardson Bass (November 11, 1914 – June 1, 2006) was an American heir, investor, philanthropist and sailor. Early life Perry Richardson Bass was born on November 11, 1914, in Wichita Falls, Texas.Leslie WaynePerry R. Bass, 91, Patriarch ...

. Richardson named

John B. Connally John Bowden Connally Jr. (February 27, 1917June 15, 1993) was an American politician. He served as the 39th governor of Texas and as the 61st United States secretary of the Treasury. He began his career as a Democrat and later became a Republic ...

, the future Texas

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, as co-executor of the estate, a designation which provided Connally with steady income for years thereafter. He also bought and donated land for the Sid Richardson Boy Scout Camp.

Institutions named after Richardson

* Sid Richardson Auditorium of the

Amon Carter Museum Amon may refer to: Mythology * Amun, an Ancient Egyptian deity, also known as Amon and Amon-Ra * Aamon, a Goetic demon People Momonym * Amon of Judah ( 664– 640 BC), king of Judah Given name * Amon G. Carter (1879–1955), American pub ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, in Fort Worth housing Sid Richardson's extensive collection of Western Art featuring works by Remington and Russell *

Sid Richardson College Rice University contains eleven residential colleges which function as the primary housing, dining, and social organizations for undergraduate students. The system was established in 1957 and was inspired by the residential college systems at the ...

, one of eleven residential colleges at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

* Sid W. Richardson Physical Sciences Building at

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Discipl ...

, Fort Worth *

Sid Richardson Scout Ranch Scouting in Texas has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live. Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stat ...

, a

Boy Scout A Scout (in some countries a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or Pathfinder) is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split ...

camp on Lake Bridgeport, near Decatur * Sid Richardson Hall, an academic building at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, which houses the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs,

Eugene C. Barker Eugene Campbell Barker (November 1, 1874 – October 22, 1956) was an American historian at the University of Texas, the managing director of the Texas State Historical Association, and the editor of the ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly''. He ...

Texas History Collection, the UT Center for American History, and the Benson Latin American Collection. * Sid Richardson Building,

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the s ...

, which houses the Paul L. Foster Success Center and the Department of Mathematics. * Sid Richardson Recreation Center,

Austin College Austin College is a private liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Sherman, Texas.Sherman * Sid Richardson Building,

Texas Wesleyan University Texas Wesleyan University is a private Methodist university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was founded in 1890 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The main campus is located in the Polytechnic Heights neighborhood of Fort Worth. Its mascot is ...

* Sid W. Richardson Visual Arts Center,

Fort Worth Country Day School Fort Worth Country Day (FWCD) is a JK-12 private, independent, coeducational, nondenominational college-preparatory school located on approximately 100 acres in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It is accredited by the Independent Schools Associa ...

, completed in 2009. * Sid Richardson Science Center, Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene * Sid Richardson Hall, A former residential hall at

Howard Payne University Howard Payne University is a private Baptist university in Brownwood, Texas. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Howard Payne College was founded by Reverend Noah T. Byers and Dr. John David Robnett in 1889. The institu ...

Brownwood * Sid Richardson Gallery, Texas Southmost College * Sid Richardson Gymnasium,

* Sid Richardson Tower, Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth in the Fort Worth Hospital District * Sid W. Richardson Communications Center, Trinity University,

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

Life and career

Institutions named after Richardson

References

External links