Harris L. Kempner Biography

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Harris L. Kempner, Jr., (aka Shrub Kempner), is President and Portfolio Manager of Kempner Capital Management, an investment advisory firm in Galveston, Texas since 1982. He is also a Trustee of H. Kempner Trust Association, serving as Chairman since 1988.

He was President of U.S. National Bancshares and Chief Investment Officer for Frost Bank of Galveston (formerly United States National Bank) from 1969 to 1982. He currently serves as a Director for Balmorhea Ranches, Inc, Pecos, Texas, and Director Emeritus and Advisor to Frost Bank, Galveston, Texas. He has been a Director of Legacy Holding Company in Houston, Texas since 1996.

Harris L. Kempner Jr. serves on Administrative Council of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights which is named after AJWS board member Michael Hirschhorn’s …show more content…

is the great-grandson of Harris H. Kempner, a Texas philanthropist, banker and railroad magnate.

Harris Kempner (the first), was born in Russia and immigrated to the United States in 1857. After fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War, he returned to Texas and moved to Galveston in 1870. Later that year, he and his business partner opened a wholesale grocery business that soon became the largest in the South. The business provided him with enough capital to invest in the railroad, commodities, and banking fields. He provided funds for the building of the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad, and led the fight that resulted in the line's subsequent merger with the Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad.

In 1885 Kempner became president of the Island City (Texas) Savings Bank. He soon became a major figure in Texas banking, controlling several big Texas banks. Harris Kempner died in 1894. The city of Kempner TX, (population 1,117) is named after him.

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