Ernest L.
Wehner ’41
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 1976
Del Rio, TX
Wehner received a bachelor’s degree in Accounting in 1941. After serving in WWII, he joined the international public accounting firm of Arthur Andersen and Co., advancing to Managing Partner in 1968. Wehner served on the firm’s Board of Directors and was noted for his expertise in oil and gas taxation.
He also served as an advisor to Executive Development Program and the President’s Forum of Texas A&M University College of Business Administration and the Texas A&M University Development Office. Wehner is the co-founder of the Thomas W. Leland Accounting Professorship at Texas A&M.
GEN Otto P.
Weyland ’23
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 1976
Riverside, CA
Weyland received a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1923. Weyland’s distinguished performance as commander of strategically important units in WWII and the Korean War earned him promotion to four-star General, the first Texas A&M former student to achieve that rank.
He is the recipient of the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, and Air Medal. His foreign decorations include Commander and Knight Commander, order of the British Empire, French Legion of Honor and Croix de Guerre with Palms, Republic of China-Order of Cloud and Banner, and Japan Order of Rising Sun.
Robert W.
Baker ’44
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 1975
Millican, TX
Robert Wayne Baker has distinguished himself as an attorney, banker, member of the Coordinating Board, Texas College and University System, and former member of both houses of the Texas Legislature.
Baker’s business interests include partnerships in insurance, investment and development companies. He was chairman of the boards of Guaranty National Bank and Mercantile Bank of Houston and served on the boards of four companies. His professional affiliations include the American, Texas and Houston Bar Associations.
After practicing law in Houston for three years following completion of his formal education, he served in the Legislature for a decade. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1952, was twice reelected and then won election for a four-year term in the State Senate. He authored bills which allowed the University of Houston to become a state supported institution, created the Psychiatry Research institution of Houston, authorized the medical examiner system for the State of Texas and created a Savings and Loan section for the State Finance Commission.
His service to the people of the State of Texas includes leadership and guidance which he has provided as a member of the Coordinating Board, Texas College and University System, since 1971.
Baker initially enrolled at Texas A&M in 1940, but he interrupted his studies to enter the Air Force in 1943. He returned in 1945 and was awarded the Bachelor of Science degree in economics one year later. He earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from The University of Texas School of Law in 1949.
Baker has been an avid supporter of higher education. He and his wife have provided two President’s Endowed Scholarships at his alma mater.
Dr. Lawrence E.
Fouraker ’44
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 1975
Bryan, TX
Fouraker received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Economics in 1947 and 1948. He served as Dean of the Harvard University Graduate School of Business from 1970-1980. He has been a member of the Harvard business faculty since 1961 and held the prestigious Edsel Bryant Ford Professorship of Business Administration from 1968 until his appointment as dean.
His teaching, research and consulting activities have been focused primarily on questions of business strategy, organization and the role of the private corporation in the development process. He is widely regarded for his theories in international business and his pioneer work in the development of experimental economics. His published articles and book s include Bargaining and Group Decision Making, a study performed with Sidney Siegal, which earned the 1959 monograph prize in the social science of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Robert R.
Herring ’41
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 1974
Childress, TX
Herring received a bachelor’s degree in Economics in 1941. After service in WWII, he began a more than 30-year career in the natural gas industry, ultimately serving as President and Chairman of the Board for Houston Natural Gas Corp. He was a Director for the Independent Petroleum Association of America, Texas Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, and the American Gas Association.
Herring also served as President of the Texas Heart Institute, Board of Governors at Rice University, Trustee of the University of Houston Foundation, and Past President and Director of the Houston Chamber of Commerce.
"I consider Bob Herring a most outstanding person. His character and integrity are of the highest order. He represents the epitome of the word ‘distinguished’."
- Michel T. Halbouty '30, Distinguished Alumnus, 1968
Bernard G.
Johnson ’37
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 1974
Dallas, TX
Johnson received a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering in 1937. After serving in WWII, he founded Bernard Johnson Inc., one of the largest architectural engineering firms in the Southwest United States. Through the direction of Bernard Johnson, the firm now has a staff of 250 professional and support personnel providing complete design services in all major disciplines. In 27 years the company has planned or consulted on projects totally more than $2 billion in construction costs. Clients including the United States Steel Corporation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Atomic Energy Commission and Texas A&M have used his company’s services nationwide, in Latin America and in the Far East.
This donor of a $25,000 Texas A&M President’s Endowed Scholarship has also been honored with the Knight of the Holy Sepulchre by Pope Paul VI.
Owen W.
Sherrill ’10
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 1974
Kerens, TX
Sherrill received a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture in 1910. Much of his life was devoted to the development of the city of Georgetown, serving as Mayor and as President of numerous local banks. He was past president of the National Association of Farm and Land Brokers and served as director of the National Association of Real Estate Boards for 18 years. He was named Texas Realtor of the Year and the Texas Association of Realtors named Sherrill “Texas All Time Farm and Land Broker”.
Sherrill was President of The Association of Former Students from 1928-1929 and organizer of the Williamson County A&M Club.
Julian B.
Thomas ’11
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 1974
San Marcos, TX
Thomas received a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1911. He served as president and general manager of Texas Electric Service Co. In the early 50s, he fostered development of the futuristic “Gruen Plan” for downtown Fort Worth and served as chairman of a state water conservation committee appointed by Governor Allan Shivers.
Thomas was President of Dallas and Fort Worth A&M Clubs, President of The Association of Former Students, and a Trustee and Councilor to the Texas A&M Research Foundation. He was selected from more than 1200 nominees to serve on the A&M Century Council which recommended guidelines for the overall development of the university.
Morris “Buddy”
Benz ’32
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 1973
Port Arthur, TX
M. “Buddy” Benz is a leading exponent of contemporary floral design. He has won almost every award his particular field can offer. The Benz School of Floral Design in Houston is one of the outstanding schools of floral design in the United States.
Advice from his father in 1928 turned him from a proposed career in dentistry toward an A&M degree in Landscape Architecture and Floriculture and a lifetime of dedication to the advancement of floral design as a profession and an art form.
After graduating from Texas A&M, Benz augmented his college training with studies abroad and at leading schools of floral design in the is country. Then, while teaching Floriculture and Design at Mississippi State College, he began creating his own floral designs which became the basis for the first textbook on this art form in Western culture.
This book, Flowers: Their Creative Designs, published in 1952, quickly became the basic reference work for floral artists and commercial florists. In 1960, Benz published Flowers: Free Form- Interpretive Design which changed the entire concept of floral design, raising it into the fine arts class. Flowers: Geometric Form, a complete revision of his first book, was published in 1962.
Benz opened his first floral shop in his hometown of Port Arthur in 1936, then moved the shop to Houston where he also operated a landscape office until entering the U.S. Army in 1941. He helped design the yellow, red and blue triangular emblem used by the Armored Command and was discharged in 1946 as a lieutenant colonel.
Following World War II, he organized the Benz School of Floral Design in Houston. Techniques developed by Benz for his two-week course enable even novices to master floral design.
Benz has bequeathed to Texas A&M University his collection of fine art gathered from all around the globe as well as his unique library containing almost everything written about floral art and its history. He is also the founder of the world-renowned Benz School of Floral Design at Texas A&M University.
No other individual has made a greater impact on his professional field than has M. “Buddy” Benz, a man dedicated to developing a standard of excellence in the use of flowers as a source of “beauty to temper man’s soul.”
"His great love for A&M and his appreciation for the fine arts are helping A&M take its rightful place among great universities with an outstanding fine arts collection for its student body."
- Robert Rucker '38, Department of Horticulture, Texas A&M, and close friend
Sterling C.
Evans ’21
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 1973
Medina County, TX
Sterling Evans’ life has been one of unselfish dedication to improving conditions for farmers and ranchers across Texas and the Southwest. Throughout his lifetime career in agriculture, Evans has contributed his time, talents, and resources in support of youth programs in agriculture and research to develop better agricultural methods.
Evans was born in Medina County, Texas, in 1899. He attended grade school at Melon in Frio County and graduated from Uvalde High School in 1917. He then enrolled at Texas A&M and graduated in 1921 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Husbandry. While a student at A&M, he was a member of the YMCA Cabinet, the Ross Volunteers, and The Battalion staff.
Upon graduation, he spent seven years as State 4-H Club leader for the Texas Agricultural Extension Service before being named Direct Extension Agent in the Lubbock Area, a post he held in 1933. The next year, Evans was selected to become the first president of the Houston Bank of Cooperatives. In December 1940, he was elected president of the Federal Bank in Houston. During the 18 years Evans headed the land bank, he initiated programs to rehabilitate the National Farm Loan Associations across Texas and to consolidate the associations for more efficient service to the farmers of the state. In 1950, Evans took on the added duty of General Agent for the Farm Credit Banks of Houston and nine years later resigned to devote full time to his farm and ranch interests in Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico.
In 1971, he concluded the second of two six-year terms on the Texas A&M University System Board of Directors. He was president of the board from 1963 to 1965. He also served as trustee of the Texas A&M Development Foundation, the Texas A&M Research Foundation, and The Association of Former Students Loan Fund. He was the first chairman of the “Friends of the Texas A&M University Library”, a group formed in 1971. Under his leadership, the Friends raised $120,000 in 1972.
"Mr. Evans was the best of the best—the epitome of what all Aggies wish they could be. He served generously and always unselfishly."
- Dr. Haskell Monroe, Jr., Dean of Faculties Emeritus