James "Jim" R. Dublin

Local business and civic leader James R. (Jim) Dublin, who for more than four decades was a key player in the economic development events that shaped San Antonio, passed away on February 22, 2022, at home with his wife, Carolyn, and family at his side.

Jim had significant roles in bringing the Texas Research Park and Toyota to San Antonio and in keeping the Spurs here. He worked with USAA CEO General Robert McDermott to build the national coalition and direct the public affairs campaign that convinced automakers to include air bags in cars, saving millions of lives. Alongside Gen. McDermott, Henry Cisneros and others, Jim helped propel the biotech and biomedical industries into major drivers for our community. He worked to highlight the accomplishments of San Antonio, as well as businesses and institutions across the state, and guided countless CEOs through periods of crisis.

He helped establish the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, the Texas Research & Technology Foundation, BioMed SA, and the Alamo Bowl, and was involved with the San Antonio Medical Foundation and so much more.

Jim was born October 9, 1948 in Conroe, Texas to James R. Dublin III and Cleo Lybrand Dublin. His father was a petroleum engineer for Humble Oil (later Exxon) and so the family, including Jim and two younger sisters, were transferred often, to East Texas, Houston and Midland. Their final transfer was to Monahans in far West Texas, where Jim finished his high school career as the 6-5 center (nicknamed “Wilt”) on the Lobo basketball team, and first developed his interest in journalism.

Jim’s first two college years were at the University of Texas at El Paso, where he admitted he “spent too much time” in Juarez. With the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, a great sense of fatalism permeated college campuses and, at times, studying seem pointless. Jim knew he needed a change of scenery to refocus. He made it a goal to transfer to Trinity University in San Antonio, but the challenge was getting in. Jim said the best writing he ever did was the cover letter that accompanied his straight “C” transcript. Trinity let him in, and he proceeded to make the Dean’s List for the rest of his college career, majoring in journalism.

After reporting jobs and a stint at Our Lady of the Lake University as acting vice president for university relations, Jim landed at the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce as director of public relations in 1973. It was there that he first met and worked with Gen. Robert F. McDermott (“McD”), the visionary CEO of USAA who was also chairman of the Chamber. It was the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship.

This was a time when economic development in San Antonio was undergoing a sea change, as the wind-down of the Vietnam War resulted in severe job cuts at the five military bases on which, with tourism, the city’s economy depended. In 1974, McDermott determined to form a new organization to focus on economic development – he called it the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation (EDF).

Jim signed on with the EDF’s New York public relations firm to tell the San Antonio story to national media as its one-man “Texas Office.” He developed relationships with Houston and Dallas bureau chiefs and introduced them, one after the other, to San Antonio, its culture, its leadership and the many story possibilities that existed here – not about margaritas and river barges but about business.

Jim developed working relationships with San Antonio leaders like Red McCombs, Tom Frost and Bartell Zachry. Simultaneously, he worked closely with Gen. McDermott and helped navigate the EDF through the social and political changes taking place in the city. Along the way, he met a young city councilman, Henry Cisneros, and that led to another important friend and working relationship.

As San Antonio seemed to stall from an economic development perspective in 1978-79, Jim helped conceive a new organization – United San Antonio – to focus on broad issues of unification while the EDF continued to work with external business prospects to bring new jobs to the city. United San Antonio was led by three Tri-Chairs – McD, Cisneros and Dr. Jose San Martin, a highly respected Hispanic civic leader and former city councilman, with former Mayor Lila Cockrell as executive director. That collaboration proved successful and economic development for San Antonio moved into another gear.

In 1982, Jim moved to form his own public relations firm – Dublin & Associates – which grew rapidly with such clients as USAA, Pace Foods (Pace Picante Sauce), Frost Bank and other leading companies and organizations in the San Antonio area.

Of the many significant projects undertaken by the firm, the most far-reaching was the eight-year battle to have airbags become standard in all US autos. Leading the fight was Gen. McDermott, USAA’s CEO, who pulled together an unlikely coalition of insurance companies, Ralph Nader, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and others to fight against the major auto companies, led by General Motors and Chrysler (whose CEO Lee Iacocca famously said, “Safety doesn’t sell”), and the Reagan Administration. Jim and his team ran the campaign out of San Antonio – a huge effort coordinating lobbying and communications in Washington and in multiple state legislatures, working to achieve a hardfought victory.

Eventually, Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole was won over as were the national media. It was an intense, daily conflict, but airbags are in every American vehicle today because of the fight Jim and his team waged for eight years under McD’s leadership.

Another project with important local impact came with a call in January, 1993 from Red McCombs, who had been part of the original ownership group that brought the San Antonio Spurs to town. With the Spurs now playing in the cavernous Alamodome, they set attendance records, but as a football stadium, the dome’s luxury suites were in the nosebleed area for basketball games. Red knew the numbers would never work outside a purpose-built basketball arena with lots of premium, close-in seating and amenities.

Red told Jim, “I’m going to sell the Spurs and I’d like to sell them to a local group, but one way or the other, I’m going to sell them. See what you can do.” Jim immediately called Gen. McDermott at USAA and they started the wheels turning for the creation of a new group. SBC (Southwestern Bell) and its CEO, Ed Whitacre, had just moved to San Antonio when McD called and said, “We’ve got to do something about this.” San Antonio’s only major league sports team could be sold to locals or to out-of-towners (who almost certainly would move the team to a bigger market). Whitacre and McD agreed to convene a group of interested individuals, which is how the whole transaction began, leading to the hiring of Gregg Popovich as coach, the building of the SBC Center and multiple NBA championships.

One of San Antonio’s iconic companies was Pace Foods (Pace Picante Sauce), owned by Kit Goldsbury. Jim’s firm had worked with Pace for years, introducing Pace Picante to markets all over the country. So successful was Pace that Campbell’s Soup came calling, deciding that the best way to enter the Mexican salsa/hot sauce market was to buy the market leader, Pace. Goldsbury, and his lieutenant, Rod Sands, negotiated the sale of Pace to Campbell’s for $1.15 billion.

With some of the money from the sale of Pace, Kit fulfilled a dream of buying the old Pearl Brewery complex. Jim and his team were privileged to be part of the effort to determine the best use for the space, and later to help launch the Pearl. It was determined that the basis of Pearl was to be about food – food of the Americas, food made by local chefs, featuring ingredients from the area. Education would have to play a big role and the blue-chip brand in culinary education was the Culinary Institute of America. When Kit made a gift of some $35 million in 2007 to build a CIA campus at the Pearl and provide student scholarships, the gift was announced simultaneously in the New York Times and Express-News – and Pearl was on its way.

Later in his career, Jim established Dublin Strategies as a consulting firm working with the CEOs of leading institutions and businesses, meeting with them as they dealt with the issues of strategy, leadership and communications. Jim said he was fortunate in his life to work with so many interesting and action-oriented leaders. They trusted him and respected his judgment. They sought his counsel.

Jim always said that he had a good life. He enjoyed reading and playing golf (enthusiastically, he noted, if not well). But his great joy came from the chance meeting – through a blind date arranged by Tracy Wolff in 1994 – with the great romantic love of his life, his wife, Carolyn. He cherished her not only for being beautiful, but for being so well-grounded (and helping to ground him), as well as so loving and endowed with common sense – all making her a wonderful wife, mother and grandmother.

Carolyn’s children from a first marriage, Javier (Anneke), Deborah (Tommy) and Rebecca (Doug) became integral to Jim’s life, and their children (Celia, Max, Davis, Drew, Reid, Annabelle, Wilkes and Ivy) all became Jim’s grandchildren. His grandparent name was Big Jim while Carolyn’s grandparent name is Bear. Bear and Big Jim had many adventures with these kids as each of them grew up. Dinners out where they learned “restaurant manners,” forays to the zoo and Sea World. Later, helping with their studies, introducing them to skiing at Taos, and many other adventures, large and small.

Jim had two sons from his first marriage, Bryce Dublin (Charlotte) and children Paxton, Joshua and Taylor of Norfolk, VA, and Blake Dublin (Allison) and children Madeleine and Colin of Atlanta, GA.

Jim liked to drive his Expedition – to Marfa and to New Mexico (especially to Santa Fe and Taos), where the big skies and vistas were a magnet. Big Jim had a wonderful time with Bear on those trips and enjoyed the “going” as much as the “getting there.”

In his final months, Jim was especially thankful for the friendship and guidance of Dr. William Henrich, as well as for the support of his team at UT Health and of many of the city’s biomedical leaders, with whom he had worked so closely for so many years. In Jim’s words, he lived a very good life, indeed. “No regrets – just moving ahead.”

The family extends an invitation for friends and colleagues to gather to celebrate Jim’s life at 3 p.m. on Monday, March 7, at Club Giraud, 707 N. St. Mary’s St. in San Antonio.

His family will also hold a private celebration of his life in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they loved to spend time. They plan to raise a glass of Pinot and toast a life taken too soon, but a life well lived.

In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that memorials be made to the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio.