Sid Williams Richardson
| Sid Williams Richardson | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 25, 1891 Athens, Texas |
| Died |
September 30, 1959 (aged 68) St Joseph's Island, Texas |
| Resting place | Athens, Texas |
| Education | Baylor University and Simmons College |
| Occupation | Businessman and philanthropist |
| Relatives |
Perry Richardson Bass (nephew) Ed Bass (great-nephew) Robert Bass (great-nephew) Sid Bass (great-nephew) Hyatt Bass (great-grandniece) |
Sid Williams Richardson (May 25, 1891 – September 30, 1959) was a Texas businessman and philanthropist known for his association with the city of Fort Worth.
A native of Athens in east Texas, Richardson attended Baylor University and Simmons College 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.
Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Richardson met General Dwight Eisenhower on a train. Within six months, Eisenhower was promoted to head of the US Army. Richardson bought White House influence primarily by donating money to Elliot Roosevelt, the hapless son of President Roosevelt, and by inviting the president on fishing trips to the Gulf of Mexico. After the war, Richardson financed Eisenhower's presidential campaigns and persuaded the retired general to run for office. Part of his persuasion included buying a farm for Eisenhower at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Richardson was president of Sid Richardson Gasoline Co. in Kermit, Sid Richardson Carbon Company in Odessa, 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 art, particularly that of Frederic Remington 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 in 2006.
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