Like the late Dallas Mayor J. Erik Jonsson, Bobby B. Lyle has worn many hats. Both have been known as accomplished entrepreneurs, engineers, business executives, philanthropists and community leaders. Despite an age difference of more than 40 years, they also had visions of greatness for North Texas and the entities that would make the region world class.
While Erik built TI, helped Dallas recover from the presidential assassination and undertook the creation of DFW International, Bobby created Lyco Holdings Incorporated, held leadership positions in numerous organizations (The Salvation Army National and DFW Advisory Boards, Circle Ten Council Boy Scouts of America Executive Board, Trinity Trust Foundation, Texas Trees Foundation, Communities Foundation of Texas, W.W. Caruth, Jr. Foundation and the Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation) and cast his net successfully in the energy, real estate, technology and telemarketing industries.
But it was his time as a student and as a teacher at SMU where his loyalties lay. Through his talents and energies, he has served on the executive boards of the Lyle School Engineering Executive Board and the Cox School of business, as a trustee of the Institute for the Study of Earth and Man in SMU’s Dedman College and as vice chair of the Maguire Energy Institute in the Cox School and the Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility. Bobby was the co-founder and current chair of the Associate Board in the Cox School and serves on the board of SMU’s Hart Global Leaders Forum. In 1995 he received the SMU Distinguished Alumni Award and in 2006 was named to the Lyle School of Engineering Hall of Leaders.
In 2008 SMU’s school of engineering was named the Lyle School of Engineering.
And now, SMU is bestowing another prestigious honor on Bobby when he receives The J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award on Thursday, March 29, at SMU’s Martha Proctor Mack Grand Ballroom.
With proceeds from the luncheon benefiting SMU’s Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility, sponsorships and tickets are available here for lunch with Bobby.
* Photo and graphic courtesy of SMU's Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility