Ralph Fair Jr.
Ralph Fair Jr. graduated from the New Mexico Military Institute and received an engineering degree from the University of Texas in Austin. He began working with his father in the Texas oilfield as a petroleum engineer.
In 1964, Ralph married Janis Regel. Ralph and Janis raised their three daughters, Susanne, Dorothy and Diane, in Texas and Central America, giving their children a diverse learning experience and many family adventures.
Susanne Richardson said her father “was very adventuresome; he loved doing things. He had no fear, he loved doing things for the first time.”
Bob Weiss, a longtime working associate of Fair, said he was “in the right place at the right time” as Fair began to apportion the ranch acreage into lots.
Mayor Greg Maxton called him “the father of the city of Fair Oaks Ranch.”
“His presence in our lives was a blessing on many levels,” Maxton said. “Ralph Fair Jr. had a vision of turning a working ranch into a community. He succeeded against all odds at achieving what many in the early 1970s said was an absurd idea.”
Maxton moved to Fair Oaks Ranch in 2013, attracted by the lure of its uniqueness and tranquil environment.
“Through his persistence, he implemented his vision of designing and building a unique community which would eventually become the city we know today,” Maxton said. “I personally admired his energy and his caring attitude in all that he did.”
Richardson, the oldest of the three Fair daughters, still lives in a home in Fair Oaks Ranch.
“We inhabited what is now the country club; I lived there until I was 13,” Richardson said of the centerpiece to the city, the Fair Oaks Ranch Golf and Country Club. “We’ve always had a home on the ranch.”
Her father, she said, “was full of energy and had a spirit of accomplishment. He just didn’t turn things down, ever.” She said her father “definitely grew up in an era (when a handshake meant something); his word was gold.”
“My dad would say, ‘I’m going to do this, if you want to come along, you’re welcome to come with me,’” she recalled. “He was always urgent. Every day, he wanted to know, OK, what are we going to accomplish today?”
No one knew that attitude better than Weiss, who was left the reins of Ralph Fair Inc. in 1981 when Fair moved his family to Costa Rica.
“The biggest thing we did to help the formation of the city, we put deed restrictions on each lot,” Weiss said, “with the idea that we were going to have a residential community.”
“We were looking at it from the standpoint of, let’s make it a location you can enjoy,” added Weiss, who began working for Ralph Fair Inc. in 1977.
The fact the development was started and completed without having to go to a bank or lender to do so, made things easier for Fair and his development.
“The land we developed was paid for, free and clear, so that gave us a lot of opportunity,” Weiss said. “We were the developer; we capitalized off the fact the land was free and clear.”
One attraction was the spaciousness, a goal from the beginning.
“I think there were 2,600 lots on the 5,000 acres. That density is another unique quality of Fair Oaks Ranch,” he said. “The majority of the lots were larger lots, and that’s why people have a good feel about it.”
Richardson said the establishment of the golf course and country club were a definite asset and attraction.
“We started the Fair Oaks Ranch Golf and Country Club, which has brought so many people to the area,” said Richardson, who said Fair was not much of a golfer, but her grandmother was. “But golf is the ultimate attraction.”
PGA professional Gary Player, one of only five professional golfers to have ever won all four PGA major championships, designed the course’s original 18 holes.
“The development was designed around those 18 holes. It was designed so that many homes could have a golf course view,” Richardson said.
Later in life, Fair took on an evangelistic approach to life, spending time — and dollars — to spread Christianity through regions of South America where people lived in squalor and crushing poverty.
“When we started our own families,” Richardson said, “he began his evangelistic efforts, to promote Christianity and help women and orphan children, abused women, in poorer regions of South America.
“He always encouraged us to give and to help other people,” she said, adding, “I love the fulfillment of helping other people.”
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Ralph’s memory may be made to Charity Ball Association of San Antonio, PO Box 2357, San Antonio, Texas 78298; www.cbaofsa.org.
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