Degree: Texas Christian University, BA-English, 1957
Licenses: Life & health insurance broker/agent – numerous states
Certifications: Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU)
Texan Status: Native

Happy Birthday to Don Woodard, Sr.,
who turned 85 years young on February 16, 2011!

The founding partner of Woodard Insurance joined Southwestern Life in 1972 after decades in the energy and transportation industries. Don earned his CLU in 1991. He specializes in executive life insurance planning and senior insurance planning.

Don, who is well-known in Fort Worth business and political circles, ran for mayor in 1982. Don is a frequent contributor to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Fort Worth Business Press letters-to-the-editor.

Don currently is leading the opposition to the Trinity River Uptown program being spear-headed by the Tarrant Regional Water District. Trinity River Uptown, also known as Trinity River Vision, is a $435 million mis-use of public funds that will chiefly benefit a few engineering, construction, real estate, and land development firms under the guise of flood control. Dozens of private businesses will be displaced under eminent domain to make way for a small downtown lake that will obscure the historic confluence of the Clear Fork and West Fork of the Trinity River and a bypass channel necessary to ensure a constant lake level.

Don is a 1957 Texas Christian University graduate and a past president of the TCU Frog Club. Don authored Black Diamonds! Black Gold!, the exciting saga of the Texas Pacific Coal & Oil Company and early 20th century Fort Worth. Released by Texas Tech University Press in December, 1997, Black Diamonds! Black Gold! is one of the best-selling books ever published by Texas Tech University Press.

E-mail: Don Woodard