Courtesy of TCU
Mary Ralph Lowe
TCU officials announced on Tuesday afternoon that the university’s TCU Energy Institute will be renamed the Ralph Lowe Energy Institute at the TCU Neeley School of Business.
The change is in honor of the late Ralph Lowe for his “longtime leadership in the energy industry and his family’s generous support of Texas Christian University,” officials say in a news release.
Mary Ralph Lowe, Mr. Lowe’s daughter and a member of the TCU Board of Trustees, made a significant philanthropic investment to help endow and name the Ralph Lowe Energy Institute as a tribute to her late father.
Her gift also supports Lead On: A Campaign for TCU, the university’s most ambitious philanthropic campaign in its nearly 150-year history.
“I am thrilled and proud that the legacy of my father and his impact on the energy industry will be honored in such a meaningful and lasting way,” says Ms. Lowe in a statement. “Our family looks forward to continuing to play a role in the development of future leaders through the Ralph Lowe Energy Institute at the TCU Neeley School of Business.”
The Institute is housed in the Neeley School of Business, which has enjoyed academic acclaim over the years.
“The Ralph Lowe Energy Institute is playing a strategic role in the ongoing transition the energy industry is undertaking, and we are deeply thankful to Mary Ralph Lowe as a partner and leader with extensive expertise and a future-oriented vision,” says Ann Bluntzer, associate professor of professional practice, management and leadership and acting director of the Ralph Lowe Energy Institute.
Ms. Lowe, who now manages her family’s energy interests as CEO of Maralo LLC, as well as working cattle ranches in the Hill Country, attended TCU and Briarcliff College. In addition to her membership on TCU’s board, she is a Founder of the Addison & Randolph Clark Society and a KinderFrogs Ambassador. She also served on the Chancellor’s Advisory Council, the Leadership Gifts Committee, and the Trustee Campaign Planning Committee.
“We are inspired by and grateful for the extraordinary leadership and generosity of Mary Ralph Lowe and her family over the many years they’ve been part of the TCU community,” Chancellor Victor J. Boschini Jr. says.
Ralph Lowe, Missouri born, came to Midland in the early 1930s, and there he opened and successfully operated a Texaco Station before turning to oil exploration. Using a contract cable tool rig, he completed his first oil well in June 1940. From then until his death in 1965, Mr. Lowe participated in more than 500 wells in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and New Mexico, including the Deep Rock Ellenburger Field in Andrews County.
Mr. Lowe was elected to The Petroleum Museum Hall of Fame in 1973.
Mr. Lowe was a strong supporter of TCU football, but it was in horse racing that he might be best remembered in sports. He owned Gallant Man, winner of the 1957 Belmont Stakes. However, it was the Kentucky Derby earlier that same year that he earned renown.
While leading the derby on Gallant Man, Bill Shoemaker, a hall of fame jockey, mistook the eighth pole for the finish line. He reined in his mount and stood up on his stirrups briefly before realizing his error. It was too late. Iron Liege caught him and ran past to win.
Lowe refused to blame Shoemaker for the loss.
Mary Ralph Lowe took over running the family’s oil and gas business a few years after Mr. Lowe’s death.
Ms. Lowe has recognized members of her family with other gifts to the university, including the Erma and Ralph Lowe Chair of Texas History, the first of its kind in the state; and the renovation of the Erma Low Hall, the building that houses TCU’s School for Classical & Contemporary Dance.
The Samantha Yost Pace Scholarship in Nursing at TCU honors her daughter.
In addition, Ms. Lowe and her mother, once also a TCU trustee, founded the Lowe Foundation in 1988 to support the health and educational needs of Texas women and children.