Bobby Lyle has never forgotten his humble beginnings and the importance of kindness, his colleagues say.
The businessman, startup investor, educator and philanthropist has given back to his community for more than 50 years.
For his commitment to Dallas, Lyle has been chosen to receive the 2019 Linz Award, an annual honor recognizing enduring civic or humanitarian efforts benefiting the city.
The award, one of the city's oldest and most respected civic honors, is given by The Dallas Morning News, Communities Foundation of Texas and The Dallas Foundation. Lyle will receive the award at the 90th annual Linz Award Luncheon in Dallas on April 17 at the Hilton Anatole.
Lyle said in an interview that he’s grateful for the award.
“The selection committee this year unanimously chose Bobby as the winner due to the breadth of his contributions and his unique ability to bring people together towards a common cause,” Moise said.
Lyle’s family came from modest means. His father died when he was only a few months old. With the help of his extended family, his mother raised him and his brother in East Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana.
After he graduated from Louisiana Tech University, Lyle moved to Dallas in 1963 — just months before President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Lyle has said he saw Kennedy shortly before he was killed Nov. 22 of that year.
Lyle, who earned a master’s degree from Southern Methodist University in 1967, witnessed the city try to overcome that historical stain in the years that followed JFK's death.
Throughout his career, Lyle has been a prominent figure in the oil and gas industry and played a major role in development in the city, including the Dallas Galleria and InterFirst Bank-Galleria.
After he sold his oil company in 2005, he established Lyco Holdings Inc., a private investment firm.
Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s chief executive and former president of Boy Scouts of America, praised Lyle for his volunteer work and philanthropic efforts. He said Lyle, who has been active with the Scouts' Circle Ten Council, exhibits a true Boy Scout’s attributes, including integrity and selflessness.
In his nomination of Lyle for the award, Stephenson wrote that he and Lyle “share a passion for Scouting and the critical role it plays in creating leaders of character."
“Through Bobby’s work in our community, he has consistently lived these same values,” Stephenson said.
Lyle’s name and work run deep through numerous North Texas organizations, especially SMU, which named its school of engineering after him in 2008. He was a trustee at SMU for 30 years and served as a professor and executive dean in what is now the Cox School of Business. He has a doctorate from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
At 78, Lyle said he isn’t ready to slow down or even consider retirement. There’s too much work to get done, he said, and he loves it too much to say goodbye.
He said he wouldn’t even “know how to do” retirement.