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Joseph Howard Creekmore

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Joseph Howard Creekmore

Birth
Abilene, Taylor County, Texas, USA
Death
5 Feb 1993 (aged 87)
Houston, Harris County, Texas, USA
Burial
Houston, Harris County, Texas, USA Add to Map
Plot
Section I
Memorial ID
View Source
Grandson of Hiram Caswell Creekmore and Ann Eliza Wier.

Publisher of the Houston Chronicle for 22 years, 1965–1987.

Married Hazel Goodwin, Dec. 22, 1929.

Tulsa World, February 7, 1993, p. B4:
HOUSTON (AP) - Joseph Howard Creekmore, former publisher of the Houston Chronicle and former president of Houston Endowment Inc., died Friday. He was 87.


"Ex-publisher Creekmore dies at 87," Dallas Morning News, February 7, 1993, p.30A:
HOUSTON -- Joseph Howard Creekmore, former publisher of the Houston Chronicle and former president of Houston Endowment Inc., has died at 87.

Mr. Creekmore died of natural causes Friday at Methodist Hospital.

Mr. Creekmore headed the endowment, one of the nation's largest charitable foundations, for 26 years before his 1990 retirement.

He also served as publisher of the Houston Chronicle before the endowment sold the paper to the Hearst Corp. in 1987.

"Without his support on some of our most important decisions, we wouldn't have enjoyed the success we have achieved during the past 20 years,' Chronicle chairman and publisher Richard J.V. Johnson said.

Ben Love, retired chairman and chief executive officer of Texas Commerce Bank, praised Mr. Creekmore for his "business acumen,' his modesty and "an uncanny knowledge' of societal needs, especially the education of the underprivileged.

Mr. Creekmore is survived by two nieces, Lucille Gallman of Houston and Sue Ann Noble of San Antonio.

Services will be at noon Monday at St. Paul's United Methodist Church. Burial will be in Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery.


Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, February 8, 1993, p.4C: Joseph Howard Creekmore
87, former publisher of the Houston Chronicle and former president of Houston Endowment Inc.; on Friday.




"Houston Endowment's Creekmore dies at 87," by BOB Tutt, Houston Chronicle, February 6, 1993, p. 29:


Joseph Howard Creekmore, former president of Houston Endowment Inc., one of the nation's largest charitable foundations, died Friday. He was 87.
For 26 years, Creekmore headed the endowment founded in 1937 by Jesse H. Jones and his wife, Mary Gibbs Jones. Under Creekmore's leadership, the charity more than tripled its assets to $690 million and distributed more than $350 million in grants.
Creekmore served as publisher of the Houston Chronicle before the endowment sold the paper to the Hearst Corp. in 1987.
"Without his support on some of our most important decisions, we wouldn't have enjoyed the success we have achieved during the past 20 years," said Chronicle Chairman and Publisher Richard J.V. Johnson.
H. Joe Nelson III, current president of Houston Endowment, praised Creekmore for his devotion to the memory of Jones, a builder and banker who was one of the most important figures in Houston history.
"After Mr. Jones' death in 1956, Mr. Creekmore regarded it his duty to see that the affairs of Houston Endowment were administered as he believed Mr. Jones would have," Nelson said.
Jack S. Blanton, chairman of the endowment's board of directors, said that under Creekmore's leadership the foundation made "gifts to almost every charitable institution in Houston working to improve the quality of life for all its people.
"His name deserves to be included among those Houstonians who have made this great city what it is today," Blanton said.
Ben Love, retired chairman and chief executive officer of Texas Commerce Bank, praised Creekmore for his "business acumen," his modesty and "an uncanny knowledge" of societal needs, especially the education of the underprivileged.
"He had a great sense of history, and he could take yesterday and adapt it to today perhaps more logically and skillfully than any other man I've ever known," Love said.
Creekmore was born on the Creek Indian Reservation in Oklahoma in 1905. His mother died when he was 6. His father remarried but died of typhoid fever four months later.
His stepmother, Byrd Creekmore, took responsibility for raising Creekmore, then 10, and his brothers, Paul and Wynn. They moved to Houston in 1920. She would serve many years as dean of Houston Heights High School, which later became Reagan High School.
Creekmore's nephew, Houston attorney Wynn L. Creekmore Jr., explained that the move to Houston was prompted partly by the Rice Institute, which later because Rice University. "Rice Institute was a free school then," he said. "You could get in if you had the grades. She worked them pretty hard, and all three were able to go to Rice."
While in school, Creekmore supported himself with several jobs, including driving a mule team to deliver groceries and working as a baggage handler on trains going between Houston, Galveston and Fort Worth.
When Creekmore graduated from Rice with a degree in history and English in 1926, he took a job as a bookkeeper in the downtown offices of the Jesse H. Jones interests.
Jones became one of the most influential figures in Creekmore's life. "I think the relationship was sort of like father and son," Wynn Creekmore said.
"Jones didn't have any sons, and my uncle had lost his father," Wynn Creekmore said. "One day Jones told him, 'Howard, you're never going to get anywhere as a bookkeeper. What you need to do is go to law school.' "
Jones paid Creekmore's way through the Houston Law School. After graduating in 1932, he passed the bar exam, then went to work as the in-house attorney for Jones' organization.
Jo Murphy, a director of Houston Endowment who worked as Creekmore's secretary for 14 years, said Jones always affectionately referred to Creekmore as "the boy."
Creekmore volunteered for the Navy almost immediately after the United States entered World War II. Serving as an officer on destroyers and cruisers, he earned eight battle stars and participated in 15 landings. He rose to lieutenant commander before leaving the Navy in 1946.
Creekmore returned to his legal post with the Jones interests. He was elected a trustee of Houston Endowment in 1959 and elevated to president in 1964. He also was a director of Texas Commerce Bancshares and Texas Commerce Bank-Houston until 1990.
Among the projects financed by the Houston Endowment under Creekmore's leadership were colleges scholarships for outstanding high school graduates, the Mickey Leland Center on World Hunger and Peace at Texas Southern University and, along with the Rotary Club of Houston Foundation, construction of a facility for cancer patients and their families in the Texas Medical Center.
While at Rice, Creekmore met Hazel Goodwin. They were married in 1927. She retired from the Houston school district after teaching for 40 years at Burbank Elementary. Later, when her eyesight was impaired, Creekmore read to her each day. She died in December at age 86. They had no children.
He is also survived by two nieces, Lucille Gallman of Houston and Sue Ann Noble of San Antonio.
Services will be at noon Monday at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Carey Sayers officiating. Burial will follow at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery. Settegast-Kopf is handling arrangements.
Grandson of Hiram Caswell Creekmore and Ann Eliza Wier.

Publisher of the Houston Chronicle for 22 years, 1965–1987.

Married Hazel Goodwin, Dec. 22, 1929.

Tulsa World, February 7, 1993, p. B4:
HOUSTON (AP) - Joseph Howard Creekmore, former publisher of the Houston Chronicle and former president of Houston Endowment Inc., died Friday. He was 87.


"Ex-publisher Creekmore dies at 87," Dallas Morning News, February 7, 1993, p.30A:
HOUSTON -- Joseph Howard Creekmore, former publisher of the Houston Chronicle and former president of Houston Endowment Inc., has died at 87.

Mr. Creekmore died of natural causes Friday at Methodist Hospital.

Mr. Creekmore headed the endowment, one of the nation's largest charitable foundations, for 26 years before his 1990 retirement.

He also served as publisher of the Houston Chronicle before the endowment sold the paper to the Hearst Corp. in 1987.

"Without his support on some of our most important decisions, we wouldn't have enjoyed the success we have achieved during the past 20 years,' Chronicle chairman and publisher Richard J.V. Johnson said.

Ben Love, retired chairman and chief executive officer of Texas Commerce Bank, praised Mr. Creekmore for his "business acumen,' his modesty and "an uncanny knowledge' of societal needs, especially the education of the underprivileged.

Mr. Creekmore is survived by two nieces, Lucille Gallman of Houston and Sue Ann Noble of San Antonio.

Services will be at noon Monday at St. Paul's United Methodist Church. Burial will be in Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery.


Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, February 8, 1993, p.4C: Joseph Howard Creekmore
87, former publisher of the Houston Chronicle and former president of Houston Endowment Inc.; on Friday.




"Houston Endowment's Creekmore dies at 87," by BOB Tutt, Houston Chronicle, February 6, 1993, p. 29:


Joseph Howard Creekmore, former president of Houston Endowment Inc., one of the nation's largest charitable foundations, died Friday. He was 87.
For 26 years, Creekmore headed the endowment founded in 1937 by Jesse H. Jones and his wife, Mary Gibbs Jones. Under Creekmore's leadership, the charity more than tripled its assets to $690 million and distributed more than $350 million in grants.
Creekmore served as publisher of the Houston Chronicle before the endowment sold the paper to the Hearst Corp. in 1987.
"Without his support on some of our most important decisions, we wouldn't have enjoyed the success we have achieved during the past 20 years," said Chronicle Chairman and Publisher Richard J.V. Johnson.
H. Joe Nelson III, current president of Houston Endowment, praised Creekmore for his devotion to the memory of Jones, a builder and banker who was one of the most important figures in Houston history.
"After Mr. Jones' death in 1956, Mr. Creekmore regarded it his duty to see that the affairs of Houston Endowment were administered as he believed Mr. Jones would have," Nelson said.
Jack S. Blanton, chairman of the endowment's board of directors, said that under Creekmore's leadership the foundation made "gifts to almost every charitable institution in Houston working to improve the quality of life for all its people.
"His name deserves to be included among those Houstonians who have made this great city what it is today," Blanton said.
Ben Love, retired chairman and chief executive officer of Texas Commerce Bank, praised Creekmore for his "business acumen," his modesty and "an uncanny knowledge" of societal needs, especially the education of the underprivileged.
"He had a great sense of history, and he could take yesterday and adapt it to today perhaps more logically and skillfully than any other man I've ever known," Love said.
Creekmore was born on the Creek Indian Reservation in Oklahoma in 1905. His mother died when he was 6. His father remarried but died of typhoid fever four months later.
His stepmother, Byrd Creekmore, took responsibility for raising Creekmore, then 10, and his brothers, Paul and Wynn. They moved to Houston in 1920. She would serve many years as dean of Houston Heights High School, which later became Reagan High School.
Creekmore's nephew, Houston attorney Wynn L. Creekmore Jr., explained that the move to Houston was prompted partly by the Rice Institute, which later because Rice University. "Rice Institute was a free school then," he said. "You could get in if you had the grades. She worked them pretty hard, and all three were able to go to Rice."
While in school, Creekmore supported himself with several jobs, including driving a mule team to deliver groceries and working as a baggage handler on trains going between Houston, Galveston and Fort Worth.
When Creekmore graduated from Rice with a degree in history and English in 1926, he took a job as a bookkeeper in the downtown offices of the Jesse H. Jones interests.
Jones became one of the most influential figures in Creekmore's life. "I think the relationship was sort of like father and son," Wynn Creekmore said.
"Jones didn't have any sons, and my uncle had lost his father," Wynn Creekmore said. "One day Jones told him, 'Howard, you're never going to get anywhere as a bookkeeper. What you need to do is go to law school.' "
Jones paid Creekmore's way through the Houston Law School. After graduating in 1932, he passed the bar exam, then went to work as the in-house attorney for Jones' organization.
Jo Murphy, a director of Houston Endowment who worked as Creekmore's secretary for 14 years, said Jones always affectionately referred to Creekmore as "the boy."
Creekmore volunteered for the Navy almost immediately after the United States entered World War II. Serving as an officer on destroyers and cruisers, he earned eight battle stars and participated in 15 landings. He rose to lieutenant commander before leaving the Navy in 1946.
Creekmore returned to his legal post with the Jones interests. He was elected a trustee of Houston Endowment in 1959 and elevated to president in 1964. He also was a director of Texas Commerce Bancshares and Texas Commerce Bank-Houston until 1990.
Among the projects financed by the Houston Endowment under Creekmore's leadership were colleges scholarships for outstanding high school graduates, the Mickey Leland Center on World Hunger and Peace at Texas Southern University and, along with the Rotary Club of Houston Foundation, construction of a facility for cancer patients and their families in the Texas Medical Center.
While at Rice, Creekmore met Hazel Goodwin. They were married in 1927. She retired from the Houston school district after teaching for 40 years at Burbank Elementary. Later, when her eyesight was impaired, Creekmore read to her each day. She died in December at age 86. They had no children.
He is also survived by two nieces, Lucille Gallman of Houston and Sue Ann Noble of San Antonio.
Services will be at noon Monday at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Carey Sayers officiating. Burial will follow at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery. Settegast-Kopf is handling arrangements.


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