Carlisle Maxwell Jr.

Carlisle Maxwell, cherished husband, father and friend known for his kind and generous spirit, passed away at home surrounded by family on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025 Born on March 21, 1940 in San Antonio to Carlisle Maxwell Sr. and Helen Milburn Maxwell, he is survived by his wife, Martha, with whom he enjoyed a long and happy marriage of 60 years; daughters Martha Maxwell Britton; Clayton Maxwell Sloan and Carlisle Maxwell Swann; sons in law John Britton, Scott Sloan and Chesley Swann; and eight grandchildren—Jack Britton and wife Ian, Charles Britton and fiance Meg O’Connor, Rob Britton, Carlisle Sloan, Harry Sloan, Tee O’Brien, Max O’Brien, and baby Chesley Swann, to be born in August.

A fourth generation San Antonian, he graduated from Alamo Heights High School. He then earned a degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas in Austin where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and developed lifelong friends. He played under Harvey Penick on the freshman golf team and was a member of Chi Epsilon, an honorary engineering fraternity. He later attended the Harvard Graduate School of Business in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

After college he began dating Martha Price, the little sister of his friend Edward, with whom he would share a long life full of family, friends, travels and adventures. Early in their marriage, Martha and Carlisle moved to Victoria where they formed a tight knit crew of kindred spirits. There he was a co-founder of the Victoria Bocce Tournament which hosted the tongue-in-cheek Victoria Free Form Bocce Tournament, all with much hilarity and camaraderie.

Carlisle dedicated his long business career to the steel industry. He worked 42 years for Commercial Metals Company and was president of several business units during his time in Victoria and Columbia, South Carolina. In 2007 he launched South Texas Steel, a steel fabricating company with plants in Victoria, Corpus Christi and Houston, Texas, all of which are still successful enterprises.

Carlisle always believed that the best offering to society was to create good jobs for others. To that end, he assured that his businesses offered quality employment, and, in the spirit of the People Program developed by his business mentor Marvin Selig, that they were places where the Golden Rule was the organizational standard, treating everyone, regardless of position, with the same respect. And because he believed in good job creation, he devoted his extra time to the Victoria Economic Development Corporation, where he served as president for three years and as a director for 20 years. He also served as director and president of the Mid Coast Association of Builders and Contractors, as a member of the board of directors of The Texas Association of Business and as a commissioner of the Victoria County Navigation District.

As a lifelong South Texan, Carlisle recognized the importance of water resources for all Texans and for industrial development. He served on the board of directors and as chairman of the board of the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority. He enjoyed seeing the successful development of water supply and hydroelectric power generation and the management of rivers for environmental and recreational use. He spent many happy hours on the banks of the Guadalupe River with his daughters. After he and Martha moved back to San Antonio, he served on the board of the San Antonio River Foundation, which contributed to the enhancements of the San Antonio River developments.

Although Carlisle played many sports, golf was his lifelong love. He began his golf career at the age of eight with his father at the San Antonio Country Club, and after delving into other games like tennis and racquet ball, he returned to golf at the Club for the last thirty years of his life. His dedication to the game was so great, he wrote a book about his experiences and observations titled Golf: A Wonderful Game To Love And To Hate. He relished the fellowship and good-natured competition of his regular weekend golf games; the friendships he had among his fellow golfers were a highlight of his life.

Friendships, next to the importance of his family, were vital to Carlisle. He appreciated the light banter as well as the serious emotions of his friends, some of whom were his confidantes in exploring questions of spirituality and faith. He especially enjoyed the camaraderie of his regular Friday lunches. He wrote about friends in two other books, My Happy But Misspent Youth and A Display of Character. His admiration for his friends was deeply mutual; his wide circle of friends spoke of him as a gentleman and a prince.

Carlisle’s skills as an orator and wordsmith were well known among those close to him. He blessed family holiday meals with an eloquent prayer. His friends counted on him to mark special occasions with a toast, which he always pulled off with the right balance of kindness and humor. He penned his first poem, Ode to the Church Key, when he was only 16.

In San Antonio, he was a devoted member of the Order of the Alamo, the German Club, the Argyle, and a board member of the San Antonio Country Club. He had great affection for The First Presbyterian Church, where he spent many happy and spiritually rewarding times in his youth and as an adult. He loved the church choir and their outstanding music and was particularly thrilled by their Hallelujah Chorus at the Easter service.

Carlisle’s joie de vivre was irrepressible, but it was particularly noted at the holidays. He was famous for dressing up as Uncle Sam along with his brother-in-law, Gil Price, for the annual Fourth of July celebrations at Port Aransas, when he would deliver a patriotic address. For many Easters, he hopped around dressed as the Easter Bunny, much to the delight of his children and others.

He was an avid reader of histories and biographies and often recorded the important things he read. He believed in the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

Carlisle often quoted the words of Warren Buffett who stated that the measure of a man’s success in life is the love he receives from those he wants to love him. To that end, Carlisle was unquestionably successful.

A service to honor Carlisle will be held on April 25th at 3:30 at First Presbyterian Church in San Antonio. Contributions in his memory should be directed to The First Tee of San Antonio and the First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio and the Neuroscience Center of the Christus Children’s Foundation.