ROBERT WITHROW WIER, president of the R. W. Wier Lumber Company and the Wier Long Leaf Lumber Company, has been a factor in the lumber industry in Texas for over a score of years, during which the Wier interests have built up one of the largest lumber enterprises in Texas.

Mr. Wier first began the lumber business on his own account in 1905, when with his associates he organized the Central Lumber Company with capital stock of $25,000, maintaining retail yards in Houston and Beaumont. Two years later, in 1907, R. W. Wier Lumber Company was organized with a capital of $200,000. This company built a mill in Texla and manufactured lumber for a period of ten years. In 1917, Mr. Wier and associates organized the Wier Long Leaf Lumber Company. This company purchased from the Lutcher Stark and Brown interests an area of about ninety thousand acres of virgin long leaf pine in Newton, Jasper and Sabine Counties, erected one of the large mills in Texas at Wiergate, named after the company's president.

The officers of the R. W. Wier Lumber Company are R. W. Wier, president; B. F. Bonner, vice president, and Thomas P. Wier, secretary and treasurer. The officers of the Wier Long Leaf Company are R. W. Wier, president; C. P. Myer, vice president and general manager, and Thomas P. Wier, secretary and treasurer.

R. W. Wier was born the fourth of July, 1873, in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, son of Thomas D. Wier and Margaret Flora (Campbell) Wier, both of Scotch ancestry. He received his education in the public and private schools of Louisiana, beginning his lumber career in 1896 with the Whitecastle Lumber and Shingle Company, of Whitecastle, Louisiana. He is vice president of the San Jacinto Trust Company, director of the Union National Bank, director of the Houston Lighting and Power Company, and holds directorates in other companies. He has taken a very active interest in civic organizations, and is a member of the Southern Forest Research Advisory Committee. He is president of the Houston Recreation and Community Service, an organization directing wholesome activity and good citizenship, of play instincts of boys and girls. He is one of the trustees of the Hermann Hospital Estate, was president of the Young Men's Democratic Club of Houston and is past president of the Houston Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Wier has also taken a wholesome interest in the club and social life of Houston. He is past exalted ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, a member of the Houston Club, member of the Houston Country Club, River Oaks Country Club, Kiwanis Club and past president of the Lumbermen's Club. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Houston Consistory, a Knight Templar and a life member of the Arabia Temple.