FOUNDER
Sid W. Richardson established the Sid W. Richardson Foundation in 1947. Although his interests reached beyond Texas and his personal contacts were worldwide, he retained his utmost concern for the people of his home state. For this reason, he provided in the foundations charter that all grants be awarded to recipients within the state of Texas.
Oil, cattle, and land formed the basis of his life's work. His fortune paralleled the boom and bust nature of the petroleum industry in its early years.
Mr. Richardson attended Baylor University and Simmons College (now Hardin-Simmons) from 1910-1912. Later, with borrowed money and with his friend and partner, Clint Murchison, he hit oil and amassed a million dollars in 1919 and 1920.
In 1921 the oil market fell, and for the next 12 years Mr. Richardson's fortunes were erratic. In 1933, however, with a small investment and a friend with drilling know-how, he turned his oil business into a booming enterprise. From then on, the sky was the limit, and his hard work, coupled with his ability to get along with people of all walks of life and his perseverance, turned almost every venture into a success.
He served as president of Sid Richardson Gasoline Co. in Kermit, Sid Richardson Carbon Company in Odessa, and Sid W. Richardson, Inc., in Fort Worth. He was a partner in Richardson and Bass, Oil Producers, in Fort Worth.
During the 1930s his love for cattle and horses led to another enterprise - large cattle and ranching operations. A love of western art emerged from his ranching experience, which provided him with vivid impressions of the Old West.
An admirer of the paintings and sculptures of Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, he built one of the largest private collections of these two great artists, starting with the purchase of his first Russell painting in 1942. He thought they captured, better than any other artists, the vitality, the color, and the motion he had always associated with the West.
Today, these magnificent paintings are on permanent exhibit to the public in Fort Worth at the Sid Richardson Collection of Western Art, which is supported by the Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Since the collection opened in 1982, approximately 700,000 visitors from all 50 states and 68 countries have viewed the paintings.
Mr. Richardson continues to have a tremendous impact on his native state through the broad and diverse programs of the Sid W. Richardson Foundation.