Charles T. Wickersham

Charles T. Wickersham, a businessman who influenced the commercial and economic development of Southeast Texas for a half century, died Sunday, November 25, 2007, at a Houston hospital. The longtime resident of Orange, Texas most recently lived on Pleasure Island in Port Arthur. He was 79.Wickersham, as president of the Sabine River Authority Board of Directors, worked on legislation and financing to build the Toledo Bend Reservoir and Dam. For nearly 40 years, he owned Wickersham Ford, Inc., in Orange. He was once featured in Time Magazine as one of the top 10 automobile dealers in the nation.In addition, he was a former owner of Northway Shopping Center and helped develop the Sixteenth Street commercial corridor in Orange. More recently, he negotiated the first two deals under the City of Orange Economic Development Corporation to bring new industries to the city. He was working on a Port Arthur development at the time of his death.Also, he and his business partners for years owned and operated a large industrial venture at the Port of Houston.“He was a legend in his own time,” said Lester “Buckshot” Winfree, a former business partner and president of the Orange County Navigation and Port District.“He had a brilliant mind, and he loved Orange and he loved Southeast Texas,” said Orange Mayor Brown Claybar.“Charlie was more than just a friend, he was my mentor,” said former Port Arthur Mayor Oscar Ortiz. “I know of no other citizen who gave so much to his community and asked for so little in return.”Mr. Wickersham was also a doting, though sometimes strict, father and grandfather, who took his children and grandchildren on trips and encouraged them in their education and endeavors. He was proud of their accomplishments.He was known to everyone, including his grandchildren, as “Charlie.” He traveled around the world and made friends from all walks of life, including politicians, business leaders, and celebrities.Former Congressman Charlie Wilson first met Mr. Wickersham when Mr. Wilson was serving in the Texas Legislature and Mr. Wickersham was working on Sabine River matters. They remained good friends for some 42 years.“Charlie was a superb, super fellow and a good public servant,” Congressman Wilson said. “Charlie was extremely civic-minded and always did more than his part.”The two Charlies were also buddies who liked to sip drinks and tell tales. “He was a raconteur of the first order,” the Congressman said about his friend.Ted Turner, founder of CNN, is another of Mr. Wickersham’s circle mourning his death. “Charlie Wickersham was a good friend, a kind man and successful businessman whom I truly admired,” Mr. Turner said. “This is a great loss for me, his family and his community.”Billy Hunter, Executive Director of the National Basketball Players Association said “Charlie had a wonderful and blessed life and will be missed by everyone he came in contact with.”Phyllis McGuire of the McGuire sisters knew Mr. Wickersham for years and would even sing to him over the telephone. “Charlie was a loving, caring, loyal friend and he will be greatly missed."Mr. Wickersham was born April 3, 1928, to James and Stella Turner Wickersham. He grew up in the small, North Texas town of Cooper. When he was 16 during World War II, he convinced the Merchant Marines he was old enough to join and sailed in the summer of 1944. He then returned to Cooper to complete high school. When he was 20, he joined the National Guard and attained the rank of Intelligence Sergeant of the 49th Armored Division.Mr. Wickersham attended East Texas State College in Commerce and during the summer of 1946, came to Orange to work in the Texas Highway Department’s tourist bureau. The old log cabin bureau, built in 1936 as the first tourist bureau in the state, had been closed during World War II and then moved from Green Avenue to MacArthur Drive. Mr. Wickersham helped give directions to tourists and advise them on the best roads on which to travel. It was during this time that he fell in love with Orange and the Golden Triangle.More than 50 years later, he contributed to help preserve the remains of the log cabin, which are now at the Orange Waterfront Park awaiting restoration.Mr. Wickersham married in 1952 and decided to move to Orange to raise a family and begin a career. By September 1955, he started his first job in the auto industry by taking a job at Paul Gasow Motors, Inc. He also became friends with Nelda C. Stark of Orange and by 1960, the two had joined together to acquire the Ford dealership, which became Wickersham Ford, Inc.Congressman Wilson said he used to sit in Mr. Wickersham’s office and listen to the conversations between Mr. Wickersham and Mrs. Stark. Mr. Wickersham had a wonderful, creative mind and helped Mrs. Stark develop ideas for Orange, Congressman Wilson said.By 1983, Mr. Wickersham became sole owner of Wickersham Ford-Lincoln-Mercury and was known for the slogan “If anyone can, Wickersham can.”In addition to business, Mr. Wickersham worked, and donated to, many civic and charitable causes, including numerable youth organizations and scholarship funds. He was also a longtime member of First United Methodist Church in Orange. In 1987, he received the Cancer Society’s Citizen of the Year Award.Mr. Wickersham is the only Orange citizen to serve on two city charter change committees, with the two meeting 20 years apart. He campaigned diligently in a 2002 election to get the City of Orange’s special economic development sales tax. He then brought two new industries, along with 150 new jobs, to Orange using incentives from the tax revenues.Mr. Wickersham is survived by his children and grandchildren: daughter Dr. Jean Wickersham, a neurosurgeon, and husband Dr. Donald Kearns of La Jolla, California; daughter “Liz” Wickersham, a former CNN anchor, and her husband, attorney Paul Derounian of New York City; son Nelson Ford Wickersham of Houston and his children, Rawson and Brady Wickersham; son Victor Wickersham of Austin; son Dr. Tom Wickersham and wife, Dr. Andrea Gonzales both pediatric dentists of Flower Mound, Texas, and their children, Lauren and Sophia Wickersham; daughter Crystal Fellers of Port Arthur; and daughter Danna Elliott of Houston, and her daughters Britney Norwood and Kaitlyn Elliott.Claybar Funeral Home of Orange handled the arrangements for cremation. The family will "Celebrate Charlie" in April 2008 on what would have been his 80th birthday. Details will be announced at a later date.In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the First United Methodist Church of Orange, or the charity of choice.