Lloyd Donald Brinkman (1929 – July 4, 2015) was an American businessman, cattle breeder, civic leader and art collector. He was the owner of "the largest floor covering distributor in the US," and 350 pizza parlors with Gatti's Pizza. He bred Brangus cattle, and he was a significant collector of

Western art The art of Europe, also known as Western art, encompasses the history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period bet ...

Early life

Brinkman was born in 1929 in near Dagmar in

Sheridan County, Montana Sheridan County is a county in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,539. Its county seat is Plentywood. Its northern boundary is the Canada–United States border south of Saskatchewan. History The Montana ...

. His grandparents were Danish immigrants who became homesteaders in the county. Brinkman graduated from Pascagoula High School in

Pascagoula, Mississippi Pascagoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula metropolitan area, and is part of the Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport–Biloxi, Mississippi, Biloxi–Pascag ...

. He attended

Pearl River Community College Pearl River Community College is a public community college in Poplarville, Mississippi. It was founded as Pearl River County Agricultural High School in 1909 and became the first junior college in Mississippi in 1921. Residents of Hancock, ...

, and he graduated from the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bac ...

, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Marketing in 1952.

Business career

Brinkman initially worked in the

flooring Flooring is the general term for a permanent covering of a floor, or for the work of installing such a floor covering. Floor covering is a term to generically describe any finish material applied over a floor structure to provide a walking surface. ...

industry, even starting his own business in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

in 1960. It eventually became "the largest floor covering distributor in the US." Brinkman was also the owner of Gatti's Pizza, which operated 350 restaurants by the time he sold the business for $24 million in 2004. Brinkman was also a breeder of Brangus cattle.

Civic engagement and art collection

Brinkman was a co-founder of the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville. He served on the board of directors of the

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, with more than 28,000 Western and Native American art works and artifacts. The facility also has the world's most extensive collection of Amer ...

. He also served as the chairman of the public utility board of

Kerrville, Texas Kerrville is a city in Texas, and the county seat of Kerr County, Texas, United States. The population of Kerrville was 24,278 at the 2020 census. Kerrville is named after James Kerr, a major in the Texas Revolution, and friend of settler-fo ...

. He was honored as the "Citizen of the Year" by the Kerrville Area Chamber of Commerce in 1984. Brinkman was a collector of

. He owned paintings by American artists like Joe Beeler,

E. Irving Couse Eanger Irving Couse (September 3, 1866 – April 26, 1936) was an American artist and a founding member and first president of the Taos Society of Artists. Born and reared in Saginaw, Michigan, he went to New York City and Paris to study art. Wh ...

Frank Tenney Johnson Frank Tenney Johnson (June 26, 1874 – January 1, 1939) was a painter of the Old American West, and he popularized a style of painting cowboys which became known as "The Johnson Moonlight Technique". ''Somewhere on the Range'' is an example ...

, Gerald Harvey Jones,

Robert Lougheed Robert Lougheed (May 27, 1910 – June 3, 1982) was a Canada-born American artist who has specialized in images of the American West. He was born and raised on a farm in Massey, Ontario, Canada. He became an illustrator for mail-order catalogues ...

Howard Terpning Howard Terpning (born November 5, 1927) is an American Painting, painter and illustrator best known for his paintings of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans. Life and career Terpning was born in Oak Park, Illinois. His mothe ...

, and

Olaf Wieghorst Olaf Wieghorst (April 30, 1899 – April 27, 1988) was a Danish-American painter who specialized in depictions of the American frontier. His art was in the vein of Frederic Remington and Charles Russell. In 1992, he was inducted into the Hal ...

Personal life, death and legacy

Brinkman was married seven times. He had a son, L.D. "Don" Brinkman Jr., and a daughter, Pamela Brinkman Stone . Brinkman died on July 4, 2015. His collection of

is expected to be auctioned by

Bonhams Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought t ...

in Los Angeles in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brinkman, Lloyd Donald 1929 births 2015 deaths American people of Danish descent People from Kerrville, Texas Pearl River Community College alumni University of Southern Mississippi alumni Businesspeople from Texas American art collectors 20th-century American businesspeople

Early life

Business career

Civic engagement and art collection

Personal life, death and legacy

Further reading

References