I’ve been privileged to know a few great men in my life, and Dr. Stewart Morris stands out among them as a man of extraordinary accomplishments, wide-ranging service, and a distinctive and unforgettable personality. His achievements are so comprehensive and varied that one could write three or four focused biographies emphasizing different aspects of his life. I first met Stewart in passing in 1995, when he and his brother, Carloss, were inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame. It was in 2006, more than a decade later, however, that I experienced one of my first memorable HCU events with him.
When I was inaugurated as the third president of the University, Stewart of course was on the program and the platform, and I was emotionally struck by the fact that he, a nearly 87-year-old man, stood in front of the crowd, affirmed our character as a Christian institution, and read forthrightly from Romans 1:16–17: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.” That confession was no doubt true for Stewart because of his parents and all those faithful men and women who influenced him as a young man. As many of us saw him, he remained steadfast in his Christian convictions throughout his life.
Those convictions were evident during his Navy service in World War II as he made sure that young servicemen heard a Christian message before being sent out on mission, possibly never to return. His commitment to the gospel was also seen in his marriage to Joella, his wife of more than 70 years, and it has been richly demonstrated in the family—the children and grandchildren—they raised and nurtured. Stewart’s Christian faith touched the way he did business, building a great international company, Stewart Title, with an influence that enabled men and women all over the world to have a clear title to their property, especially the homes they could own and use to grow and protect their families.
And, of course, I can’t help reflecting on the Christian commitment that led Stewart Morris to accept the challenge—he could just as easily have said no—of the Baptist leaders of Houston who came to him and asked him to help them fulfill a decades-long dream to build a Baptist University in our city. Stewart accepted the challenge involved in the building and preservation of Houston Baptist College, now Houston Christian University—and he continued to be fully engaged from the late 1950s until the day he went to be with the Lord.
He was instrumental in acquiring the loan from Rice University that enabled those earliest leaders to buy property at a distressed price so this campus could eventually be built. He also played a key role in the Articles of Incorporation, which included the University Preamble, a confession of faith that we adhere to until this very day. He recruited expertise, money, gifts in kind, and students at every turn. Stewart was the expert leader in those earliest days as our founders developed the property, sold it off, and then took the profits and plowed them back into the earliest buildings and operations of the University. He was instrumental in the roads, the drainage, the layout, the landscaping, and recruiting the first president—and the presidents to follow. And when Houston Baptist College was in financial trouble and close to bankruptcy, unable to meet payroll, he and others on the Board of Trustees put their own resources on the line to ensure that payroll could be met for the faculty and staff of the fledgling institution. I well recall my first Trustee meeting at HBU, in 2006. Dr. Morris challenged the Board “not to let our new president start off with any kind of deficit,” and within a short period of time, with Stewart giving the first million dollars, two more millions were raised, and that total of three million created a lot of breathing room for much needed commitments to salaries, deferred maintenance, and technology.
Dr. Morris was a constant friend to me, as he was to every other HBC/HBU/HCU president and leader. We talked on the phone countless times, and invariably he would ask me what I needed the most. If it had to do with money—which it often did—he would be the first to either commit resources or help me arrange a list of people who could help. Stewart Morris was a man of action as well as a man of faith. He believed in getting things done, so he regularly introduced me to potential donors and supporters. He was habitually thinking about and working on behalf of HCU. He served on the University Board of Trustees from its first day—HBC was incorporated in 1960—until the day of his passing, when he was still serving as an Advisory Trustee. He never missed a meeting, always listened to the committee reports, and was always able to ask—even in his later years—lucid questions about the financial status and stability of HCU.
Stewart Morris loved students. It cheered him immensely for us to report how many had graduated from the University. I remember how thrilled he was when we passed the 18,000 mark. And then especially how excited he was to hear that we had hit the 20,000 mark. And this past year, when I told him that we had now exceeded 26,000 graduates, his eyes filled with tears as he smiled and shook his head. I tried my best to compliment him, but he was always better at affirming others. Some of my most prized moments are when he would say—as he said to many—“I salute you.” I regularly encouraged students to have their picture taken with Dr. Morris. I would tell them, “You’re one of the few students in America who attend a university where you can still meet the Founder.” There were, of course, officially twenty-five founders, and every one of them was a person of courage and commitment, but all would agree that Dr. Stewart Morris was the central figure of vision and action. And so we salute him today, a man who has gone to be with the Lord, one to whom tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people now and in the future owe and will owe a great debt of gratitude. One that we will always in our hearts and memories call “our Founder.