Walter William Fondren Sr. (June 6, 1877 – January 5, 1939) was an American

oil industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest volume products ...

businessperson and philanthropist in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. He co-founded Humble Oil Company, an antecedent to

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

Early life

Fondren was born on June 6, 1877, in

Union City, Tennessee Union City is a city in and the county seat of Obion County, Tennessee, United States. 11,170 people were living in the town as of the 2020 census. It is the principal urban settlement of the surrounding micropolitan area, which includes Obion Cou ...

to two first cousins, Thomas and Susannah Fondren. His father died when he was a young child, and his mother moved the family to Arkansas. His mother died when he was ten years old, when he was already working on farms. He moved to Texas six years later.

Career and philanthropy

By the time Fondren was twenty, he translated his knowledge of drilling water wells on farms to the oilfields of

Corsicana, Texas Corsicana is a city in and the county seat of Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 50 miles southeast of Dallas, Texas, Dallas. Its population was 25,109 at the 2020 census. Corsicana is considered an important ...

. Within a few years he was an expert oil worker and struck out on his own to extract oil from

Spindletop Spindletop is an oil field located in the southern portion of Beaumont, Texas, in the United States. The Spindletop dome was derived from the Louann Salt evaporite layer of the Jurassic geologic period. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindlet ...

. He was involved with the

Texas Oil Boom The Texas oil boom, sometimes called the gusher age, was a period of dramatic change and economic growth in the U.S. state of Texas during the early 20th century that began with the discovery of a large petroleum reserve near Beaumont, Texas. ...

period. In 1911, Fondren, with Ross S. Sterling and others, founded

Humble Oil Humble Oil and Refining Co. was an American oil company founded in 1911 in Humble, Texas. In 1919, a 50% interest in Humble was acquired by the Standard Oil of New Jersey which acquired the rest of the company in September 1959. The Humble bran ...

. It was later acquired by

. The Fondrens established the Fondren Lectures in Religious Thought at Southern Methodist University in 1919. They gave major financial support for the construction of a new building at St. Paul's Methodist Church in 1929. In 1938, they donated nearly half a million dollars to SMU to build the Fondren Library. Walter Fondren also made large contributions to the Methodist Home for Orphans at Waco.

Personal life

Fondren married Ella Florence Cochrum on 14 February 1904.

Death and legacy

Fondren died on January 5, 1939, in

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

while attending a Methodist conference. He was first buried in Houston at Glenwood Cemetery, but re-interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery. In 1946, the family granted $1 million to

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

to build the Walter W. Fondren Library. Two years later Ella and the family created the Fondren Foundation. Under Ella's management, the foundation funded new construction for facilities at hospitals and institutions of higher learning.

Early life

Career and philanthropy

Personal life

Death and legacy

References

Further reading