Bob Lanier Papers

Robert “Bob” Clayton Lanier (March 10, 1925 – December 20, 2014) was a businessman and politician who served as mayor of the city of Houston, Texas from 1992 to 1998. As mayor, he was affectionately referred to as "Mayor Bob." Lanier died at the age of 89 in Houston, Texas from natural causes on December 20, 2014.

Lanier was born to working class parents in the refinery town of Baytown, Texas in 1925. Lanier attended college at the University of New Mexico and graduated summa cum laude graduate from the University of Texas Law School in 1949. Initially employed by Baker & Botts law firm, Lanier practiced for a decade before switching gears to pursue a business career. During that business career he worked in banking and eventually established himself as a major Houston real estate developer, focusing mostly on subdivisions and apartments. Before seeking his first and only elective office as Houston’s mayor in 1991, he was a gubernatorial appointee to the Texas Highway Commission, which he chaired, and chairman of METRO, Houston’s transit authority. Lanier also was a founding member of Houston Community College, which he continued to support until the end of his life.

As mayor, Lanier’s actions were guided by three core values: that Houston should capitalize on its diversity, that his administration had to improve the city’s infrastructure, particularly the inner city, and bring it to the level of the more affluent suburbs, and that public safety should be improved. His honors and awards include the Texas NAACP Texas Hero award, the Hubert Humphrey Civil Rights Award, and the 2000 Leadership Houston Distinguished Service Award. In 2002 he was inducted into the Texas Transportation Institute's Hall of Honor at Texas A&M University, and in August 2007 he was also inducted into the Houston Hall of Fame.