Business
- John George Adair (1823–1885), partner with Charles Goodnight in JA Ranch
- Red Adair (1915–2004), offshore oil field firefighter
- Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001), businesswoman and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics
- George Ballas (1925–2011), entrepreneur, invented Weed Eater
- Jack S. Blanton (born 1927), oil industry executive, civic leader, philanthropist
- Norman Brinker (1931–2009), restaurateur
- George R. Brown (1898–1983), construction company founder, entrepreneur, philanthropist
- Orville Bullington (1882–1956), attorney, businessman, gubernatorial candidate
- Charles Butt (born 1938), CEO of H-E-B supermarket chain, billionaire
- Frank Kell Cahoon (born 1934), oilman, natural gas entrepreneur, state representative
- Joseph Campisi (1918–1990), restaurateur
- Helen Corbitt (1906–1978), chef, cookbook author
- Jack Crichton (1916–2007), oil and natural gas industrialist; Republican candidate for governor of Texas in 1964
- Carl G. Cromwell (1889–1931), oil driller and aviation pioneer
- Trammell Crow (1914–2009), commercial real estate developer
- Mark Cuban (born 1958), billionaire entrepreneur, owner of Dallas Mavericks basketball team
- Joseph S. Cullinan (1860–1937), oil industrialist, founder of Texaco
- Michael Dell (born 1965), founder of Dell Inc.
- William Stamps Farish II (1881–1942), oilman, president of Standard Oil, founder and president of American Petroleum Institute, co-founder of Humble Oil (which would become ExxonMobil)
- Dean Fearing (born 1955), chef, restaurateur
- Carly Fiorina (born 1954), CEO of Hewlett-Packard, senior vice president at AT&T
- Don Flynn (1934–2010), oil and gas industry executive, professional football player
- Walter Fondren, Sr. (1877–1939), oilman, co-founder of Humble Oil (which would become ExxonMobil), philanthropist
- William H. Gaston (1840–1927), co-founder, with Aaron C. Camp, of the first banking house in Dallas
- Charles Goodnight (1836–1929), legendary Texas cattleman
- Bette Nesmith Graham (1924–1980), inventor, founder of Liquid Paper Corporation, mother of The Monkees' Mike Nesmith
- Patrick E. Haggerty (1914–1980), co-founder, president, and chairman of Texas Instruments
- Najeeb Halaby (1915–2003), FAA administrator, chairman and CEO of Pan Am, father of Queen Noor of Jordan
- Ebby Halliday (born 1911), Realtor, entrepreneur
- Adolph R. Hanslik (1917–2007), "dean" of West Texas cotton producers
- Pattillo Higgins (1863–1955), oil pioneer and businessman, known as the "Prophet of Spindletop"
- Barron Hilton (born 1927), billionaire socialite, businessman, heir to Hilton Hotels fortune
- Conrad Hilton, Jr. (1926–1969), socialite, businessman, heir to Hilton Hotels fortune
- Timothy Dwight Hobart (1855–1935), landowner, surveyor, rancher, mayor of Pampa
- Howard Hughes (1905–1976), aviator, filmmaker, eccentric billionaire
- Howard R. Hughes, Sr. (1869–1924), entrepreneur, oilman; father of Howard Hughes
- Jim Humphreys (1921–2007), former manager of Pitchfork Ranch east of Lubbock
- H. L. Hunt (1889–1974), oil tycoon, patriarch of Dallas family of legendary wealth and power
- Lamar Hunt (1932–2006), founder of American Football League, Major League Soccer, North American Soccer League
- Nelson Bunker Hunt (born 1926), oilman, investor, horse breeder
- Ray Lee Hunt (born 1943), oilman
- Jerry Jones (born 1942), billionaire entrepreneur, oilman, owner of Dallas Cowboys football team
- J. Erik Jonsson (1901–1995), co-founder and president of Texas Instruments, mayor of Dallas
- Gary C. Kelly, CEO, Southwest Airlines
- Isaac Herbert Kempner (1873–1967), founder of Imperial Sugar, mayor of Galveston
- Oliver Winfield Killam (1874–1959), Laredo oilman, businessman, rancher, former state legislator from Oklahoma
- Radcliffe Killam (1910–2007), Laredo oilman, businessman, rancher, large landowner, philanthropist
- Kay Kimbell (1886–1964), entrepreneur, philanthropist; endowed Kimbell Art Museum
- Richard King (1824–1885), entrepreneur, founder of the legendary King Ranch
- John Henry Kirby (1860–1940), businessman, founder of the Kirby Petroleum Company
- Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. (1853–1932), managed the King Ranch
- Fred C. Koch (1900–1967), chemical engineer and entrepreneur who founded the oil refinery firm that later became Koch Industries
- Ninfa Laurenzo (1924–2001), restaurateur
- James Ling (1922–2004), founder of business conglomerate Ling-Temco-Vought
- Tim Love (born 1971), chef, restaurateur
- Gerald Lyda (1923–2005), construction CEO, owner of La Escalera Ranch in Sierra County, New Mexico
- James E. Lyon (1927-1993), Houston developer and Republican politician
- John Mackey (born 1953), CEO, Whole Foods Market
- Herbert Marcus (1878–1950), co-founder and CEO of Neiman Marcus
- Minnie Lichtenstein Marcus (1882–1979), vice-president of Neiman Marcus, horticulturist
- Stanley Marcus (1905–2002), president and CEO of Neiman Marcus
- Glenn McCarthy (1907–1988), oil tycoon, entrepreneur; inspired the character Jett Rink in Giant
- Giles McCrary (1919–2011), oil operator, rancher, art collector, philanthropist
- Eugene McDermott (1899–1973), founder of Texas Instruments, geophysicist, philanthropist
- William Johnson McDonald (1844–1926), banker, philanthropist
- Algur H. Meadows (1899–1978), oilman, philanthropist
- Barry Munitz (born 1941), corporation and foundation executive, university administrator
- Raymond Nasher (1921–2007), real estate developer (NorthPark Center), art collector
- Abraham Lincoln Neiman (1875–1970), co-founder of Neiman Marcus
- Carrie Marcus Neiman (1883–1953), co-founder and CEO of Neiman Marcus
- B.P. Newman (1927–2008), entrepreneur, developer, and philanthropist from Laredo
- Bill Noël (1914–1987), oil industrialist and philanthropist from Odessa
- William O'Neil (born 1933), entrepreneur, stockbroker, writer, founded Investor's Business Daily
- Marc Ostrofsky (born 1961), venture capitalist, entrepreneur, investor, author
- Ross Perot (born 1930), entrepreneur, founder of EDS & Perot Systems, and 1992 U.S. Presidential candidate
- Bob J. Perry (born 1932), homebuilder, political supporter
- Stephen Samuel Perry (1825–1874), manager of Peach Point Plantation, preserved historical manuscripts
- T. Boone Pickens (born 1928), energy entrepreneur, philanthropist
- Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim (born 1928), founder, chairman, and principal owner of Pilgrim's Pride
- Kent Rathbun (born 1961), chef, restaurateur
- Sid W. Richardson (1891–1959), oilman, cattleman, philanthropist
- Rich Riley (born 1973), Senior Vice President & Managing Director of Yahoo! EMEA
- Montie Ritchie (1910–1999), owner and manager of JA Ranch from 1935–1993
- Marvin Travis Runyon (1924–2004), business executive, U.S. Postmaster General
- Julius Schepps (1895–1971), business owner, civic leader and philanthropist
- Walter Benona Sharp (1870–1912), oilman, innovator, philanthropist
- Bill Sinkin (born 1913), banker, community activist
- Tom Slick (1916–1962), inventor, businessman, adventurer, entrepreneur, philanthropist
- Merrie Spaeth (born 1948), business public relations consultant, political consultant, educator, former actress
- John M. Stemmons (1909–2001), real estate developer, civic leader
- Ross S. Sterling (1875–1949), founder of Humble Oil (which would become ExxonMobil), Governor of Texas
- Ben Taub (1889–1982), businessman, philanthropist
- Henry Taub (born 1927), founder of Automatic Data Processing, philanthropist
- Rich Templeton (born 1958), president, chairman, and CEO of Texas Instruments
- Robert L. Thornton (1880–1964), founder and president of Mercantile Bank in Dallas, mayor and civic leader of Dallas
- Tex Thornton (1913–1981), founder of Litton Industries
- Felix Tijerina (1905–1965), restaurateur
- Chet Upham (1925–2008), oil and gas industrialist from Mineral Wells; former Texas Republican Party chairman, owner of Loveland Ski Area in Colorado
- Sherron Watkins (born 1959), Vice President at the Enron Corporation, considered to be a whistleblower who helped uncover the Enron scandal
- Edward Whitacre, Jr. (born 1941), chairman of the board and CEO of General Motors, chairman of the board and CEO of AT&T Inc.
- Clayton Wheat Williams, Jr. (born 1931), oilman; Republican gubernatorial nominee, 1990
- Clayton Wheat Williams, Sr. (1895–1983), oilman, geologist, rancher, historian
- Angus G. Wynne (1914–1979), founder of Six Flags Over Texas and subsequent corporate theme parks
Read more about this topic: List Of People From Texas
Famous quotes containing the word business:
“My business is stanching blood and feeding fainting men; my post the open field between the bullet and the hospital. I sometimes discuss the application of a compress or a wisp of hay under a broken limb, but not the bearing and merits of a political movement. I make gruel—not speeches; I write letters home for wounded soldiers, not political addresses.”
—Clara Barton (1821–1912)
“It is possible that the telephone has been responsible for more business inefficiency than any other agency except laudanum.... In the old days when you wanted to get in touch with a man you wrote a note, sprinkled it with sand, and gave it to a man on horseback. It probably was delivered within half an hour, depending on how big a lunch the horse had had. But in these busy days of rush-rush-rush, it is sometimes a week before you can catch your man on the telephone.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“The business of America is business.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)