John A. Warner

John Andrew Warner passed away of natural causes on March 2, 2016, in Dallas, Texas. He was born January 1, 1924, in Kansas City, Missouri, son of Richard G. and Margaret Falconer Warner. He attended high school in Anchorage, Alaska and Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he graduated in 1941.

After high school graduation, Mr. Warner enrolled in the Adult Education Division of Indiana University and at the same time worked at Northern Indiana Public Service Company. He then worked at General Electric Company in Fort Wayne until October 1942, when he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard. He served in the American, European and Pacific Theaters and was honorably discharged in 1946 with the rank of FC2/C.

Mr. Warner attended Notre Dame University under the Navy V-12 program while serving in the Coast Guard, and after discharge, he attended Purdue and Oklahoma Universities. Later in his business career, Mr. Warner graduated from the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Business School.

In 1950 he married Patricia Pooley in Des Moines, Iowa, and in June 1950, they moved to Tyler, Texas, where he started working for Tyler Pipe and Foundry in the shipping department. He transferred to the foundry as a laborer in January 1951, and held successive positions as pipe molder, fitting core maker, production foreman, north plant superintendent and in 1962 was promoted to production manager. He was named Executive Vice President in 1964 and elected President and Chief Operating Officer the next year. In 1969 he was named Chief Executive Officer and in 1977 was elected Chairman of the Board. Mr. Warner remained Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer until his retirement on January 1, 1989.

Mr. Warner was a director of Tyler Corporation, Texas Power & Light Company, Peoples National Bank and Mewburne Oil Company, and was an advisory director of TU Electric. He was a director and past state chairman of the Texas Association of Business and director and past president of the Cast Iron Soil Pipe Institute, Willow Brook Country Club, East Texas Hospital Foundation, and Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce.

In addition, Mr. Warner served as director of several civic and charitable organizations, including the American Cancer Society, East Texas Cancer Center, East Texas Fair, Medical Center Board of Governors, Salvation Army, Tyler Art Museum, Texas Association of Taxpayers, Texas Chest Foundation, Texas Council of Economic Education, Texas Research League, Texas State Technical Institute, U.T. Health Center Development Board and U.T. Tyler Development Board.

Mr. Warner served on several Texas state commissions and task forces, including the Governor's Commission on Physical Fitness, Governor's Task Force on Foreign Investments in Texas and the Governor's Task Force on Water Resources and Conservation.

In 1973 Mr. Warner received the T.B. Butler Award as Tyler's outstanding citizen of the year.

Mr. Warner was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, Willow Brook Country Club, Country Club of the Rockies, Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He was a Mason and member of Sharon Shrine.

In addition to his wife, Patricia Warner, Mr. Warner is survived by daughter Katherine Warner Ott and son-in-law Randy Ott; daughter Amanda Warner Jackson and son-in-law Andy Jackson; grandson Kyle Ott; granddaughter Zoe Yuhas; granddaughter Carly Mataragas; grandson Tyler Jackson; and three great-grandchildren.