Robert C. "Bob" McNair

This passage from the Gospels uniquely embodies the life and legacy left by Robert C. “Bob” McNair who passed away on the 23rd of November 2018, at his residence in Houston. He was 81 years old. Bob McNair was the Founder, Senior Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Houston Texans NFL team and the Founder and Senior Chairman of McNair Interests.

McNair will be remembered for his tenacious giving, humility and entrepreneurial drive, and for the enduring authenticity of his remarkable stewardship of the gifts given to him. He lived his life to glorify God and to benefit others.

McNair was born on New Year’s Day 1937 in a one-bedroom garage apartment in Tampa, Fla. His family moved to Savannah, Ga., and later to Charlotte, N.C., ultimately settling in Forest City, N.C., where his father, Ruse McNair, worked in sales for the Sunshine Biscuits Company.

McNair attended Cool Springs High School in Forest City where he excelled in academics and athletics. Ever industrious, he worked at the local Forest City Café cleaning tables and doing dishes. It was there that McNair learned the importance of hard work, persistence and determination – core values he would carry throughout his life.

After his high school graduation, he attended the University of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C., where he began to hone the leadership and business skills that would emerge so profoundly during his adult life. He was elected student body president, was an active Sigma Chi member and served as a lifeguard in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where he began renting umbrellas on the beach.

In his freshman year at USC, McNair attended a freshman orientation dance at nearby Columbia College and met Janice Suber, who became the love of his life. In his junior year they married, and after graduating in 1958 with a bachelor’s degree in science, the McNairs stayed in Columbia so he could pursue a career in advertising. McNair then moved his family to Charlotte for a new position at a friend’s car leasing company. Five months later, the business went bankrupt and Bob and Janice headed to Houston. At the young age of 23 and with only $700 to his name, McNair built a truck leasing business that he would later sell to a Chicago-based company.

In 1983, McNair founded Cogen Technologies, a company that over the span of two decades would become the largest privately-owned cogeneration company in the world, generating a capacity of more than 1,000 megawatts in the Northeastern United States. In 1999, in a landmark deal that would change the course of his life, McNair sold Cogen Technologies to East Coast Power, which was owned 50/50 by Enron and Calpers.

McNair then formed The McNair Group, now known as McNair Interests, a private investment and management company focusing on transformative projects in energy, life sciences, hospitality, recreation, technology and real estate. In 1998, he formed Houston NFL Holdings with the dream of returning NFL football to the City of Houston. On Oct. 5, 1999, the NFL awarded him the 32nd NFL franchise. In 2002, the Houston Texans took the field and professional football returned to Houston.

McNair’s influence and leadership secured two Super Bowls for Houston’s NRG Stadium: Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 and Super Bowl LI in 2017. He maintained an active role in NFL affairs, serving as Chairman of the Finance Committee and as a member of the Audit and the Chairman’s Committees. Additionally, McNair’s passion for football extended to the college arena where he founded and served as Chairman Emeritus of the Texas Bowl, featuring teams from the Big 12 and SEC conferences.

McNair successfully combined Janice’s love for horses with his competitive spirit when he developed Stonerside Stable, a major Thoroughbred horse farm in Kentucky that was home to more than 275 racehorses, broodmares, yearlings and weanlings. From its inception in 1994, Stonerside won 72 Graded Stakes races including Grade l wins in the Belmont, Breeders’ Cup Mile, Travers, Haskell, Hollywood Gold Cup, Cigar Mile, Carter, Swaps, Wood Memorial, Matriarch and Oak Leaf Stakes. Stonerside has also finished second and third in the Kentucky Derby and was the co-breeder of Fusaichi Pegasus, winner of the Derby in 2000.

McNair’s faith guided his life and charitable giving. He was an elder at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church (MDPC) in Houston, and coached youth football at MDPC. In 1988, Bob and Janice McNair founded The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation in Houston. In 1989, they established the Robert and Janice McNair Educational Foundation in Forest City and in 2001, they created the Houston Texans Foundation.

For almost 30 years, their foundations have given generously to a wide array of scientific, literary, educational, human service and faith-based organizations. Initiatives like the McNair Scholars Program at the Texas Medical Center and scholarships at the University of South Carolina, Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine, Columbia College, Newberry College, Austin College, Virginia Tech and Houston Community College have all been recipients of McNair grants and educational programming.

McNair believed in the value of education, the power of free enterprise and American entrepreneurism. In 2016, those convictions led McNair to establish McNair Centers for Entrepreneurism and Free Enterprise at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, the University of St. Thomas Houston, the University of South Carolina, Columbia College, Northwood University and Houston Baptist University.

McNair has also supported the Houston Independent School District’s Fine Arts Program, Project GRAD Houston, Teach for America, the Neuhaus Education Center and the Houston-area Charter Schools Initiative. At the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, McNair endowed the Robert and Janice McNair Public Policy Chair.

McNair was a member of the board of trustees of numerous institutions, including Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine, the Texas Heart Institute, Houston Grand Opera, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Greater Houston Partnership, the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Free Enterprise Institute, the Sigma Chi Foundation, the Federal Reserve Banks of Dallas and Houston and the Young Presidents’ and World Presidents’ Organizations.

McNair believed in good governance and enjoyed helping other civic leaders find solutions to pressing problems. He was an active participant in and contributor to numerous public policy initiatives including providing the initial funding for Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR) and co-founding and funding the national FairTax® campaign.

In 2007, McNair turned his philanthropic focus to medical research, establishing the McNair Medical Institute and providing a transformational gift of $100 million to Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. The McNair Scholars Program soon followed to recruit and deploy world-class physicians and research scientists in the fields of type 1 diabetes, cancer and neurosciences. In addition to Baylor College of Medicine, McNair Scholars are located across Houston’s acclaimed Texas Medical Center, including MD Anderson, Texas Children’s Hospital and Texas Heart Institute.

As the Apostle Paul said at the end of his life, so can be said today of Bob McNair: He fought the good fight, he finished the race and he kept the faith.

Bob McNair is survived by his wife, Janice Suber McNair, children Ruth McNair Smith, Robert Cary McNair Jr. and wife Kate, Daniel Calhoun “Cal” McNair and wife Hannah, and Melissa Eileen McNair, all of Houston; grandchildren Holly Smith Alvis and husband Austin of Houston, Rachel Lynn Syphers and husband Adam of Bozeman, MT, Holt Harrison McNair and wife Jourdan, Anna McNair Lindamood and husband Darren, and Amanda Eileen Walter all of Houston, Christina Devon McNair of Dallas, TX, Ashley Adair Walter of Houston, Thomas Robert McNair of Austin, TX, Priscilla Raelyn McNair of Dallas, TX, Alexandra Vivian McNair, Abby Marie Reichert, Kelli Lynn Reichert, Robert Daniel McNair, Daniel Calhoun McNair Jr., and Michael Hartland McNair, all of Houston; great grandchildren Redding McCulla Syphers and Rollie McNair Syphers of Bozeman, MT. He was predeceased by his parents, Ruth Adair McNair and Ruse Foster McNair, and brothers Ruse Foster McNair Jr. and John David McNair.

The family of Robert McNair would like to express their profound gratitude for the loving and tireless care provided by Dr. James L. Pool and the physicians, nurses and staff at Baylor College of Medicine; Dr. Michael J. Keating and the physicians, nurses and staff of MD Anderson; the physicians, nurses and staff of Houston Methodist Hospital, and the prayerful support of family and friends.

The public is invited to join the McNair family at a “Celebration of Life” to be held at two o’clock in the afternoon on Friday, the 7th of December 2018, at NRG Stadium in Houston.

Prior to the celebration of life, the McNair family gathered for a private service and interment.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to the Houston Texans Foundation or the charity of your choice.

Houston Texans Foundation: www.houstontexans.com/foundationdonation

Service arrangements have been entrusted to the care of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons Funeral Directors.