John D Murchison Sr

John D. Murchison Sr., the eldest son of Clint Sr., attended Hotchkiss and then Yale, leaving school the day after Pearl Harbor to enlist. He became a fighter pilot, flying more than 50 missions over the skies of China, North Africa and Italy. After World War II, John Sr. followed in his father’s footsteps and began his career as a banker. John Sr. spent the early 1950s under the guidance of his father buying insurance companies and banks. Adding to Atlantic Life, a $71 million insurer Clint Sr. had acquired in 1941, John acquired Lamar Life of Mississippi, then Life and Casualty Insurance of Tennessee. John Sr. spearheaded the winning of the largest proxy fight in United States history at that time over control of Alleghany Corporation, which controlled over $5 billion in assets, including IDS, a large Minnesota based insurance company, and the New York Central Railroad, the largest railroad in the United States. John Sr. had acted as one of the founders of Southwest Airlines, was one of the two founders and co-owners of the Dallas Cowboys Football Franchise, privately held significant oil and gas reserves as well as exceptional real properties. He was also the co-owner of majority stakes in three publicly traded oil and gas companies and the largest home development company in the United States. John Sr. was a pillar of the Dallas community. He was a prominent Board member of the First National Bank of Dallas and a well known philanthropist spearheading the construction of the Dallas Museum of Art. At the time of his death, Mr. Murchison was a director in a number of public companies, including the Caribbean Finance Company, San Juan, P.R.; Chicago Milwaukee Corporation, Chicago; Cook Industries, Memphis; Delhi International Oil Corporation, Dallas; First International Bancshares Inc., Dallas; General Energy Corporation, Lexington, Ky.; Kirby Exploration Company, Houston; Southwest Airlines, Dallas; Hooker Corporation Ltd., Sidney, Australia. He was also a trustee and past president of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, trustee of the World Wildlife Fund (U.S.); and a trustee of St. John's College. In addition to his wife - former Lucille Gannon - and brother, he survived by a son, John D. Murchison Jr. of Dallas; three daughters, Mary Noel Lamont and Barbara Jeanne Murchison, both of Dallas, and Virginia Murchison'of Athens, Tex., and three grandchildren.