Name: Finney, Jack
Title: Founder of Jack Finney Inc and Ja-Lu Quarter Horses
Texas A&M Class: 1938
Inducted: 2009
Deceased (Silver Taps)
As founder of Jack Finney Inc., a real estate development and construction company, he led the company in developing shopping centers, apartment complexes, residential subdivisions and offices for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. His success as an entrepreneur provided the encouragement to enter the Quarter horse industry; and in 1977, he established Ja-Lu Quarter Horses. Mr. Finney became recognized as an outstanding exhibitor throughout the United States, and he won the American Quarter Horse Association World Championship in 1980 with his horse Schottische.
Mr. Finney has been a pillar of his communities — the Texas A&M community and his hometown of Greenville. Having been honored as Greenville’s “Worthy Citizen,” his many accomplishments reflect the foundation for service he established while attending Texas A&M. He has a long history of making generous gifts to the community, having donated land, money, and his time to a variety of institutions. After donating more than $1 million to a new cancer center in Greenville in 2006, the Hospital District’s Board named it the Lou and Jack Finney Cancer Center. He was instrumental in establishing the Greenville Board of Development and served as its chairman for many years. In 2007, Mr. Finney donated $500,000 to Texas A&M University-Commerce for its new music building. The world-class acoustic auditorium is named the Lou and Jack Finney Concert Hall.
He served as a member of the Board of Regents for the Texas A&M University System and was appointed to the first Board of Advisory Directors of the Small Business Administration by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Mr. Finney was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus by the Texas A&M University Association of Former Students in 1992 and has been inducted into the Texas A&M University Corps Hall of Honor.
“Jack’s commitment to leadership as a former student exemplifies the rich tradition for which the college is proud — a tradition of training leaders for the agricultural industry,” said Dr. Ed Hiler, Vice Chancellor and Dean, Agriculture and Life Sciences in 2001. “His contributions and leadership within the agricultural community support this tradition, and we are justifiably proud of his achievements as a graduate of this college.”
Jack and Lou Finney were married for 68 years prior to her death in 2005. Jack Finney passed away five years later in 2010.