Welcome Wilson Sr., real estate mogul, former member of the UH Board of Regents, dies at 95

Welcome Wilson Sr., a real estate developer of more than 60 years who served as former chairman of the University of Houston System Board of Regents, died early Friday with his wife and one of his children at his side in his Houston home. He was 95.

Wilson was born in 1928 and grew up in Brownsville before his family moved to Houston. He graduated from the University of Houston with a bachelor of business administration degree and married his college sweetheart the same day in 1949. Graduating first in his class in officer school, Wilson worked as a naval officer for two years in Japan during the Korean War.

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Cindi Wilson Proler, his eldest daughter, said she was with her father when he died, and during the past few months the family noticed that he was “slowing down.” Growing up, she said her father used to sing “You Are My Sunshine” to her and her siblings.

“I asked him what was the purpose of life, and he said ‘to make the next generation better off than you were,’” she said.

He served as chairman of the Welcome Group LLC., a real estate development firm that owns and leases facilities around the country. In the 1950s and ’60s, Wilson worked on Jamaica Beach and Tiki Island, master-planned communities that are now cities in Galveston County.

Wilson served in the Executive Office of the President under Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy in the 1950s and ’60s, and witnessed the atom bomb and hydrogen bomb tests. He was later appointed as special ambassador to Nicaragua by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

In 1958, he was given the Arthur S. Flemming Award, which honored outstanding federal employees, joining such recipients as astronaut Neil Armstrong and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

After he had served as assistant to Houston Mayor Roy Hofheinz, Wilson helped with efforts to desegregate lunch counters in downtown Houston in the 1960s. He would go on to be a supporter of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, which protected transgender Texans from discrimination. The ordinance was rejected by voters in 2015.

During his career, Wilson once owned 10% of the Astros baseball team and served on its board of directors.

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Wilson, who served as chairman of the University of Houston System from 2007 to 2010, recruited Renu Khator as president. He also worked to establish the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication.

“Welcome Wilson was a true titan whom I was honored to work with and humbled to call a friend,” Khator said in a news release. “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.”

Wilson was chairman emeritus of the UH Political Action Committee and was serving as director emeritus of the Greater Houston Partnership when he died.

Wilson is survived by his wife of 74 years Joanne Guest Wilson as well as their four children, grandchildren and great-grand children. The funeral service is still being planned.