Allen T. McInnes

Allen T. McInnes was born to Vera Jesse and Miles Ansley McInnes in Wilmington, Delaware on the 30th of April 1937, and died peacefully embraced by his loving family in Houston on the evening of Saturday, the 11th of August 2018.

Shortly after his birth, The McInnes family settled in Houston, Texas where he attended West University Elementary, Pershing Middle School, and graduated in 1955 from San Jacinto (now Bellaire) High School. He remained close to many of his beloved friends from those early years, all his life.

Allen received a doctorate in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin, where he also earned both a bachelor’s and master’s of business administration. Additionally, he held an advanced management degree from Harvard University.

As a university student in Austin, Allen met his soon-to-be wife, Missy Chilton, on the steps of the University of Texas Bell Tower. The legend goes that there was something about a wager between friends, somebody won, and somebody lost, but Allen and Missy were married in Bastrop, Texas on April 23rd, 1960, and one of the most beautiful marriages transpired. They were blessed by God with six children, countless friendships, travels around the world, unfathomable challenges, remarkable successes, and memories to fill several lifetimes.

Allen T. McInnes, Ph.D., served as dean of the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University from 2001 until 2012. He was awarded the title of Dean Emeritus at Texas Tech in 2013. During his tenure as dean, the college achieved many milestones including the completion of a state-of-the-art business building which opened its doors in January 2012 and remains one of the premier business school facilities in the State of Texas. ‘The Dean’ championed many academic endeavors at Texas Tech, but most notably establishing a Career Management Center, an Alumni Advisory Council, and various entrepreneurial, leadership, health organization management, JD-MBA, and energy commerce programs at the Rawls College of Business. He loved the excitement of the university atmosphere and was eternally grateful to share his 40 plus years of business experience with his cherished faculty, staff, and students.

Prior to his role as dean, Allen had a varied career across many facets of the energy and agricultural industries. He spent more than 30 years at Tenneco Inc., in both Houston, Texas and Bakersfield, California (Tenneco West), eventually serving as executive vice-president and a member of the board of directors. He was president, chairman, and chief executive officer of TGC, a seismic acquisition company; president and chief executive officer of TETRA Technologies, Inc. in the Woodlands, Texas; and chief executive officer of Chase Packaging, Inc. based in Portland, Oregon. Most recently, Allen served on the board of directors of Dawson, a company that resulted from the merger of TGC Industries with Dawson Geophysical in January 2015, leading to the largest land-based geophysical company in North America.

As a lifelong advocate for education and the arts throughout much of his career, McInnes served as a member of the board of trustees of The Kinkaid School in Houston, the board of trustees of Thunderbird School of Global Management, and the advisory council of the business school at The University of Texas at Austin. In addition, he served as a board member of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston. While in Lubbock, both Allen and Missy became fixtures in the community, serving on the Lubbock Symphony Board, Ballet Lubbock, the Underwood Center for the Arts, the Tech Museum Board, and Ronald McDonald House.

Along with his many accomplishments, Allen was a selflessly devoted husband and father. He would catch last minute cross-country flights home to be at every sideline, play, recital, graduation and special event of his children and grandchildren’s' lives. He always had words of wisdom and experience to offer and would constantly remind us all to “keep your head up!” He would miraculously be able to find extra hours in the day to spend time with each of his children and make them feel unique, special, and loved.

Allen is preceded in death by his parents Vera and Miles Ansley, and son Miles Lawrence McInnes. His storied life is survived by his devoted and effervescent wife of 58 years, Missy; his brother Roger; his children Lisa, Laurie, Lance, Michael, and John; his son-in-law Steve Hughes; his daughters-in-law Katrina, Randi, and Deborah; and his eleven grandchildren Myles, Sofia, William, Lucy, Sophia, Kaden, Mollie, Lara, Annie Catherine, Forrest, and Banks.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from five o’clock in the afternoon until seven o’clock in the evening on Thursday, the 16th of August, in the library and grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

A memorial service is to be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon on Friday, the 17th of August, at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 717 Sage Road in Houston. Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception to be held in the adjacent Bagby Parish Hall.

In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial contributions may be directed to St. Martin’s Episcopal Church- Building for the Ages Campaign, 717 Sage Rd, Houston, TX 77056; or to Texas Tech University -Rawls College of Business at: Texas Tech University System, Financial Services, Box 45025, Lubbock, TX 79409-5025, C/O The Rawls College of Business.