Iconic Galveston businessman and philanthropist
Robert L. “Bobby” Moody, a member of a family key to Galveston’s economic development, died Tuesday morning, according to his family. He was 88 years old.
No cause of death was given, though Moody had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease several years ago. A great-grandson of William Lewis Moody, who settled on the island and built a mercantile business that helped establish Galveston’s prominence in the cotton trade, Moody continued his grandfather William Lewis Moody Jr.’s legacy of owning and managing insurance and banking companies in Galveston and across Texas.
During his decades-long career, Moody served as chief executive officer of insurance companies National Western Life and American National Insurance as well as of Moody National Bank, according to Buddy Herz, his lawyer and friend for nearly 60 years.
“I would not tell you that he wasn’t born with the golden spoon, but he took that golden spoon and grew it to a big ladle, while doing a lot of good for society at the same time,” Herz said Tuesday.
Moody was also an active philanthropist who spearheaded the creation of Moody Gardens, a hotel and attractions center in Galveston, to bolster the island city’s economy. He founded the Transitional Learning Center, a facility for post-acute brain injury rehabilitation, after his son Russell Moody suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident in the early 1980s.
“My father’s hometown of Galveston would look very different had he not brought his ideas to fruition,” his daughter Frances Moody-Dahlberg wrote in the Moody Foundation's 2015 report after succeeding him as
executive director of the family’s philanthropic organization.
Doug McLeod, Robert Moody’s brother-in-law, said Moody was brilliant and one of the most fair businessmen he ever encountered. People who worked for Moody were loyal to him for decades because he treated them well, McLeod said.
Despite his charitable giving, Moody was not the type to seek PR, both Herz and McLeod said.
“He was not one to go around cutting ribbons or wanting to go to galas. He was happy when he had an arm full of income statements and balance sheets to look at,” McLeod said.
Tilman Fertitta, the Landry’s Inc. CEO who was born in Galveston and launched his first major project in the city, said in a statement that Galveston has lost a true island champion.
“As a child growing up in Galveston, I respected Bobby Moody and recognized him as a Galveston icon. Later in life, even when we were at odds, I always regarded Bobby as a formidable adversary known for his tenacity and grit,” Fertitta said.
In 2021, the Moody Foundation gave $100 million to Rice University to build a student center and fund student opportunities, the largest single gift toward the student experience in the University’s history, according to Rice University.
Part of the gift funds a scholarship for undergraduate business students named for Robert Moody that provides financial support for internships, competitions, travel and wellness programs.
Robert T. Ladd, chairman of the Rice University board, and Reginald DesRoches, president of the university, credited Moody’s financial acumen and vision for leading the Moody Foundation to prominence.
“The Moody family and the foundation’s generosity and vision will forever be visible at Rice with the landmark Moody Center for the Arts and the Moody Center for Student Life and Opportunity, which will be located in the heart of our campus,” Ladd and DesRoches said in a statement.