JAMES HAL BYRD

04/01/1935 - 12/27/2022

James Hal Byrd, of Houston, Texas, passed away on December 27, 2022, at the age of 87. He was born April 1, 1935, in New York City, one of five children of Hy Byrd and Gertrude Fitzgerald Byrd, and grew up in Scarsdale,

New York. He attended The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut for grades 9 through 12, and while at Hotchkiss, he started for two undefeated Varsity football teams and played on the Varsity baseball team. He learned to fly at the age of 15 in a Piper Cub and worked summers on survey crews for which he co-piloted planes inspecting pipelines all over the country.

After graduating in

1953, he attended Harvard University for one year before transferring to The University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a business degree and then a law degree in

1959. While at UT, he was a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and enjoyed participating in many intramural sports, including football, handball, and golf. An excellent golfer, he won individual awards and the law school golf championship during his time in law school.

After earning his law degree from UT, he returned to his family’s home in Houston and began work at the law firm Vinson, Elkins, Weems and Searls before joining Century Development as General Counsel. While at Century, he played a key role in acquiring the land to develop Greenway Plaza before moving on to start his own law firm, practicing law in Houston for many years until his retirement. He was a member of the State Bar of Texas and the Houston Bar Association for over 50 years.

Although he grew up in New York, Jim came to Texas at the urging of his father, and he lived in Houston the remainder of his life. He was a long-time member of River Oaks Country Club and was an avid tennis player, golfer, and outdoorsman his entire life. He enjoyed bird hunting and fishing of all kinds and was a member of St. Charles Bay Hunting Club. Jim, along with his late brother, Bob Byrd, a world-renowned marlin fisherman, was one of the early marlin anglers along the Texas coast in the 1960s. Golf, however, was his passion and he played the game well into his eighties, including at many famous golf courses around the world. He was proud to have scored his age, or better, numerous times.

In 1978, Jim married Eugenia Van Zandt Byrd from Ft. Worth, Texas, and they began their life of adventures, sports, and travel. They recently celebrated their 45th Christmas.

Jim was preceded in death by his parents, Hy Byrd and Gertrude Fitzgerald Byrd, his sister, Linda Byrd, his brother, Robert Hy Byrd, his son, David Fitzgerald Byrd, his son-in-law, Randolph Walter Herring, and Nancy Carroll Prior, the mother of his children.

He is survived by his sister, Sally Byrd Ohrstrom and her husband, Ken, his sister, Susan Elizabeth Byrd, his daughter, Laura Byrd Herring, his son, James Hal Byrd, Jr. and his wife, Mary, his son, John Carroll Byrd and his wife, Catherine, and his eight grandchildren - Alyssa Herring Waters and her husband, George, Juliana Herring Wallace and her husband, Garrett, Carroll Grant Herring, Lauren Randolph Herring, Hy Fitzgerald Byrd and his wife, Morgan, Charles Carroll Byrd, Matthew James Byrd and Ryan Christopher Byrd, and his two great-grandchildren – Hal Fitzgerald Byrd and Kipp Easton Byrd.

The family wishes to thank and acknowledge the following late lifelong friends of

Jim, among others, for their friendship and kindness all these years: Butch Pratka, Chuck Davis, Pat Gilbert, Charlie Swain, Michael T. McSpadden, Buford Crowley and Sandy Bruce.

A funeral service celebrating Jim’s life will be conducted at three o’clock in the afternoon on January 17, 2023, at the Church of St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks Blvd., Houston, Texas, where The Rev. Dr. Doug Richnow will officiate, with a reception to follow in Sumners Hall. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Heart Association, 10060 Buffalo Speedway, Houston, Texas 77054, Shriners Children’s Texas, Donor Development – Suite 523, 815 Market Street, Galveston, Texas 77539, or the charity of your choice.