HOUSTON – The University of Houston announced Saturday that long-time Houston real estate developer and former chairman of the UH System Board of Regents Welcome Wilson Sr. has died.
The university said Wilson died on Friday.
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Wilson was chairman of the Welcome Group LLC., a conglomerate of companies that own and lease commercial facilities across the country. Wilson’s early projects in the 1950s and 60s were the master-planned communities of Jamaica Beach and Tiki Island, which are now cities in Galveston County.
The university said Wilson received the UH Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1970, the UH Bauer College of Business Distinguished Alumni Award in 1996 and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree in 2013. He also served as chairman of the University of Houston System from 2007 to 2010.
“Welcome Wilson was a true titan whom I was honored to work with and humbled to call a friend,” said Renu Khator, chancellor of the University of Houston System and president of the University of Houston. “The personal guidance he gave me was invaluable and his support for the UH System and UH laid the foundation for the success that our students and community reap today and will for years to come.”
“Welcome was a pillar of the community who exemplified the heart of a leader,” added UH System Chairman Tilman J. Fertitta. “He had an incredibly successful business and service career and, while he could have sat on his laurels, he used his success to support education and the university he loved. The work he did for the UH System and throughout his life left a legacy of excellence. As the current chairman, I’m walking in the footsteps of a giant.”
The university said upon his passing, Wilson was director emeritus of the Greater Houston Partnership, having served as its higher education committee chairman for many years, and chairman of the UH Political Action Committee.
“We mourn the loss of Welcome Wilson Sr., a true pioneer whose contributions have shaped the University of Houston and the broader community. His spirit will forever be part of our story. True we’ll ever be,” the university said in a post on Facebook.