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 (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

known for his association with the city of Fort Worth.

Life and career

A native of

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

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 the ...

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., 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 administrat ...

, and Sid W. Richardson, Inc., in Fort Worth, 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 i ...

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 Stat ...

and Charles M. Russell. 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 arti ...

in 2006. Richardson had already given numerous scholarships and gifts to local organizations when friend

Amon G. Carter Amon Giles Carter Sr. (born Giles Amon Carter; December 11, 1879 – June 23, 1955) was the creator and publisher of the ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'', and a nationally known civic booster for Fort Worth, Texas. A legacy in his will was used t ...

persuaded him to establish the

Sid W. Richardson Foundation The Sid W. Richardson Foundation is a philanthropic organization founded in 1947 by Sid W. Richardson (1891–1959), a Texan who earned his fortune in the oil industry. The foundation was primarily funded after his death. As of December 2020 it had ...

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 an ...

-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, Patriar ...

. 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 p ...

in Fort Worth,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, in Fort Worth housing Sid Richardson's extensive collection of Western Art featuring works by Remington and Russell * Sid Richardson College, one of eleven residential colleges at

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

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

* 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 (Disciple ...

, 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, which houses the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, Eugene C. Barker 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 st ...

, 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 Sherman most commonly refers to: *Sherman (name), a surname and given name (and list of persons with the name) ** William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891), American Civil War General *M4 Sherman, a tank Sherman may also refer to: Places United St ...

* 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 t ...

, Fort Worth * Sid W. Richardson Visual Arts Center, Fort Worth Country Day School, 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 university, 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 ...

Brownwood * Sid Richardson Gallery, Texas Southmost College * Sid Richardson Gymnasium, Fort Worth Country Day School * 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_t ...

Life and career

Institutions named after Richardson

References

External links