Rees R. Oliver, Jr.

He was born on March 9, 1938, to the late Rees Robertson Oliver, Sr. and the late Bettie Stevens Townsend Oliver in San Antonio, Texas. He was the maternal grandson of the late Robert Foard Townsend and the late Eleanor Thornton Stevens Townsend and the paternal grandson of the late Harry Edwin Oliver and the late Edith Leota Robertson Oliver also of this city.

Rees spent his early years in Jackson, Mississippi where his father, an independent oil operator, was instrumental in the discovery of several oil fields and his mother was a founder of St. Andrew's Episcopal School. Rees attended San Antonio Academy and St. Stephens in Austin another school his mother helped found. Rees returned to San Antonio in 1951 and graduated from Texas Military Institute in 1956 and the University of Texas at Austin in 1960, where he was a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity and received his BA in Economics. From 1963-1964, he attended the New York Institute of Finance, and 1964-1965, attended the New York University Graduate School of Business.

Rees enlisted in the US Marine Corps, did his basic training at Quantico, VA; and during the Cuban Missile Crises he served as a Captain in charge of a tank battalion at Camp Pendleton, CA.

In 1978, Rees returned to the University of Texas at Austin and earned his BBA in Petroleum Land Management; and in 1982, received his degree in Law from St. Mary's University.

Always with a passion for athletics, Rees was a nationally ranked tennis player. He loved the sport of fishing at his favorite spot in Rockport, TX and held a strong belief in living in harmony with nature.

He was a member of the Argyle Club, the San Antonio German club, a past President of the Order of the Alamo - Court of the Tudor Rose; past board member of the San Antonio Country Club and current Board Member of Solar San Antonio as well as, the Keystone School.

Rees is survived by his loving wife, Elizabeth Ann Oliver and her two brothers, Stephen G. Filtsch and Frank E. Filtsch; his son, Rees Robertson Oliver, III and wife, Maury Scott Oliver; his sister, Eleanor Oliver Petty and husband, Scott; nephews, Timothy A. Weed and wife, Lucy; Richard Oliver Weed and wife, Ellie; three step-children from the late Kay Bland Oliver, as well as numerous cousins.

Rees took over his father's business holdings and managed to develop great growth by his creativity.

Through many passages in his life, Rees lived the lessons learned in the Marine Corps ~ tell the truth; do your best, no matter how trivial the task; choose the difficult right over the easy wrong; look out for the group before you look out for yourself, don't whine or make excuses, judge others by their actions and not their race.

His contributions in life will be remembered and he will be greatly missed by all those who knew him.

REMEMBERANCE CELEBRATION

SATURDAY

MAY 21, 2011

10:30 A.M.

KEYSTONE SCHOOL

119 E. CRAIG PLACE

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made in honor of Rees to the Keystone School, 119 E. Craig Place, San Antonio, TX 78212, or Solar San Antonio, 118 Broadway, Suite #621, San Antonio, TX 78205.

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Oliver championed alternative energy forms

By Elaine Ayala

[email protected]

Rees R. Oliver Jr.

BORN: March 9, 1938, San Antonio

DIED: May 11, 2011, San Antonio

SURVIVORS: His wife, Elizabeth Oliver; son Rees R. Oliver III and his wife, Maury Scott Oliver; sister Eleanor Petty and her husband, Scott Petty; and numerous other relatives.

SERVICES: 10:30 a.m. May 21 at the Keystone School, 119 E. Craig Place.

Rees R. Oliver Jr., a San Antonio independent gas and oil man for 30 years who came to support alternative forms of energy and was a trustee of Solar San Antonio, died Wednesday of congestive heart failure. He was 73.

He was lauded as a philanthropist whose gifts made a big impact on students at Keystone School, a private preparatory school that prides itself on academic excellence and socioeconomic and ethnic diversity.

"I found him to be the most truthful, the most dependable, the most honest person I have ever had anything to do with," said Bill Sinkin, founder and board chairman of Solar San Antonio, a nonprofit that advocates for solar energy.

Brian Yager, head of school at Keystone, had similar accolades. "He was a great friend of Keystone. He gave enough each year to cover two students' tuitions."

A graduate of Texas Military Institute, Oliver earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and a law degree from St. Mary's University.

He was a Marine Corps officer from 1960 to 1963 and worked as a stockbroker in New York City before returning to San Antonio in the late '60s.

"He was a man of honor," his wife, Elizabeth Oliver, said, summing up his philosophy this way: "He chose the difficult right over the easy wrong."

The couple married in 1990.

Oliver expanded his father's oil- and gas-exploration business over the years, his wife said. His focus was on oil and gas exploration and petroleum land-management.

But he developed a broader perspective on energy.

"He was in love with nature and preserving nature," his wife said. "While people couldn't depend on fossil fuels, he knew they eventually could afford solar energy."

Solar San Antonio's website notes his early advocacy. "He stresses the need to make the transition to solar as soon as possible to benefit the planet and foreign policy, but also to focus U.S. expertise in technology to reverse the vast sums of money that disappear into unstable parts of the world," it says.

"He was a smart man," Sinkin said. "He was educated in oil and educated in reliable energy."

Yager noted that dichotomy. "It came from his observation of environmental and political dependence on oil," he said.

Mary Burch, Keystone's development director, said he was "investing his energy into helping our community become less dependent on resources that

were expensive and environmentally damaging."