Buckley Institute Announces the Richard Mayor Leadership Fund
The Buckley Institute is pleased to announce the Richard Mayor Leadership Fund, a $500,000 endowment supporting Buckley efforts and activities related to leadership. The endowment will support the Lux et Veritas Leadership Program, lectures by thought-leaders, and similar programs.
“The Buckley Institute understands the importance of values like limited government, meritocracy, individual freedom, equal opportunity, and American exceptionalism,” said Richard Mayor ’55. “Buckley is a partner in the effort to defend and restore America’s principles and traditions. I see my support of the Buckley Institute as a means of impacting the Yale education for the better and pressing for the reform needed to return Yale to a revered university.”
“Mr. Mayor’s endowment is a true testament to the Buckley Institute’s strength and vitality, and the impact we are having on Yale’s campus,” said Buckley Institute Founder and Executive Director Lauren Noble ’11. “We are honored by his generous support not only of Buckley but also the many future leaders at Yale who will learn to better appreciate and effectively communicate the values that make America, and the Western world, thrive.”
The Buckley Institute’s Lux et Veritas Leadership Program is a selective, one-year fellowship for Yale undergraduates who are Buckley Student Fellows in their junior, sophomore, and freshmen years. Participating students receive in-depth instruction in the ideals and values that have allowed Western civilization to flourish. They get hands-on training in the skills they need to lead and persuade long after graduation—in the boardroom, the courtroom, and Congress.
The Richard Mayor Leadership Fund is the third endowment donated to the Buckley Institute in the past year alone. “Longevity is the main concern of the donor of an endowed fund,” Mayor explained. “This is my vote of confidence in the continuing excellence of the Buckley Institute and its value and utility to the students.”Mayor emphasized that in supporting the Buckley Institute, he hoped to restore the Yale he remembers and appreciates: “I experienced free speech and intellectual diversity at Yale in the 1950s. That was critical to my personal development and future success. By supporting those principles on today’s Yale campus, I am honoring Yale and repaying her for the benefits bestowed on me through my Yale education.”
Richard Mayor ’55
Richard Mayor attended Lamar High School in Houston, Texas where he graduated as Valedictorian and President of the National Honor Society. He attended Yale from 1951 to 1955, graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in American Studies and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He served as the student manager of the Varsity Baseball team and was a member of the St. Elmo Society and Spade and Grave. Mayor attended Yale on a full scholarship, serving as a college aide in Silliman, two years as the librarian, and as the aide to the Master in his senior year.
After Yale, Mayor attended Melbourne University in Australia from 1955 to 1956 as a Fulbright Scholar in Economics, then attended Harvard Law School, graduating with a J.D. in 1959.
Returning to Houston Mayor joined Butler, Binion, Rice & Cook, which was then one of five major Houston law firms, and rose to be head of its corporate practice and a member of its management committee. He resigned in 1982 to establish a new law firm, Mayor, Day & Caldwell (later named Mayor, Day, Caldwell & Keeton) that grew from 20 attorneys to 125 to become another major Houston law firm.
A leading corporate/securities/business lawyer, Mayor specialized in mergers and acquisitions, counseling boards of directors on corporate governance matters, and representing companies from start up to IPOs and thereafter as public companies with shareholders. His practice included contested takeovers, and in 1979 he was a member of the legal team that represented Shell Oil Company in successfully acquiring Belridge Oil Company in a transaction contested by Texaco and Mobil, which at that time was called “the largest cash takeover in American history.” When Mayor, Day was established it was involved in most of the major takeover contests that were centered in Houston.
Mayor’s practice was highlighted by the representation of many Houston based entrepreneurs, helping them access the public securities markets and grow their companies into national or global enterprises. These experiences were among the most rewarding of his legal career, and he garnered a deep appreciation of the role of entrepreneurship in fostering economic prosperity and human flourishing. In 1992, he crossed over to an entrepreneurial role himself when he helped found and was an investor in U.S. Oncology, a pioneer in the new field of physician practice management, that grew from a small start-up into one of the largest cancer care companies in the United States. He served continuously until 2010 as a director, Chairman of the Audit Committee, and adviser to the CEO and the senior management team.
In Mayor’s words, “One of my enjoyments as a retired lawyer is supporting those charities that, in the pursuit of truth, teach America’s founding principles of individual, economic and political freedom. Buckley’s activities relating to leadership are especially attractive to me because students not only gain a more profound understanding of those principles but also develop the courage and verbal skills to communicate them to others – a multiplier effect for my donated dollars.” Mayor is a Lifetime Member of the American Law Institute, elected in 1968, and a Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Association.