Tom and Nancy Pawel

This tree honors the memory of philanthropists Tom and Nancy Pawel. Speaking only German, Tom immigrated to the U.S. in 1937. Remarkably, he earned degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Business School (HBS). Nancy grew up in Boston, was a descendant of the Mayflower, and graduated from Wellesley College. They met at an HBS dance and married in 1951. They founded San Antonio-based Concord Oil Company in 1956. Thirty years later they donated 1,500 acres of land to the Texas Research & Technology Foundation (TRTF) in its quest to boost San Antonio’s healthcare and bioscience industries. Tom was admired for his fitness in his senior years. Nancy became an eminent clay artist, wining numerous local and international awards, taught at the University of the Incarnate Word, and has numerous public commissions of her clay work across San Antonio. We can imagine the joy they would have had dancing under the trees in Civic Park.

Obituaries for Nancy Pawel and Tom Pawel.