"In what other MBA program can you learn from proven success?" - Toffee McAlister '05
Ed Harte
Make a difference. The driving force governing Ed Harte's long, remarkable life can be summed up by three words. An heir to the Harte-Hanks newspaper empire, Harte started his career as a small town reporter, but worked his way up to the position of publisher of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and board member of Harte-Hanks Newspapers, Inc. To focus on his prestigious journalism career, though, would be to overlook the profound impact Harte has had on his community and the environment.
Ed Harte loves nature and has spent much of his time and resources working to protect natural beauty and diversity. A longtime member of the National Audubon Society, he served on the board of directors and as chairman during the 1970s. In the 1980s, Harte and his brother donated their 66,000 acre ranch to Big Bend National Park. His most generous gifts, though, came after the sale of Harte-Hanks' 31 newspapers, radio station, and television station in 1997 for $775 million.
Harte and his wife Janet had considered distributing their wealth as bequests. As Harte discovered, "It's more fun to watch what your money will do while you're still alive." In 1998, Ed and Janet Harte were listed among the nation's 60 largest charitable contributors, donating millions to education and conservation causes. After Janet Harte's death in 1999, a new branch of the Corpus Christi public library was named in her memory.
In 2000, Ed Harte gave his biggest gift, $46 million to fund the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, a decision made when he and his children weighed how best to use his money to make a difference. Located at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, the institute focuses not only on research but also policy. Like Harte himself, the institute is working to conserve and preserve natural resources and beauty both in the short term and for the future.
Lord Acton once said, "To be able to look back upon one's past life with satisfaction is to live twice." Ed Harte knows the meaning of this observation. For many years to come the residents of Corpus Christi, and the world, can look to Ed Harte and know he made a difference.
