ALEX THOMPSON for nearly 20 years was active in the lumber industry of Texas and was the chief executive of some of the leading lumber companies of the state. Numbered among the lumber companies in which Mr. Thompson was interested and of which he was an officer are the following: President, Thompson & Tucker Lumber Company; president, Foster-Buhman Lumber Company; vice president of the Thompson Brothers Lumber Company; vice president of the Polk County, Texas Long Leaf Lumber Company; vice president of the Kirby Creek Lumber Co., and of the Rock Creek Lumber Co. The Thompson interests, besides shipping their product to all parts of the United States, are large exporters of lumber. Associated with Mr. Thompson in many of his lumber activities was his brother, Mr. H. H. Thompson.

A native Texan, Alex Thompson was born in Kilgore, Gregg County, January 6, 1883. His father, J. M. Thompson, a native of Georgia, came to Texas in 1845 and had resided at Kilgore since 1852, and was one of the real pioneers of the lumber industry in this state. The Thompson and Tucker Lumber Company was established by Mr. J. M. Thompson in Kilgore in 1852, and this firm at that time owned and operated a string of eight or ten saw mills and lumber yards in East Texas, and amassed a large fortune in this great industry. He was a close personal friend of two men whose names will ever be associated with the lumber industry of Texas — William Cameron and W. T. Carter. Alex Thompson's mother was Miss Emma Holt, a member of a prominent Tennessee family, but was reared and educated in Texas. His education was obtained in the Austin College of Sherman, Texas, where he was a student for a period of five years, after which he entered Cornell University and graduated from that institution in the class of 1905, with the LL.B. Degree. He then attended and graduated from the Eastman College at Poughkeepsie, November, 1905. After finishing college, he could have chosen the easier way, but he preferred to be the architect of his own future, and with a desire to learn the lumber business from the ground up, he went to work for his father in one of his saw mills, and for several years was his father's saw mill and timber man, and by close attention to the details of every branch of the lumber business, he grew to be one of Texas' leading lumber men. During his life he looked back with pride to the valuable lessons he learned in the practical side of the lumber industry while serving as a saw mill hand in his father's mill. In addition to his vast lumber interests. Mr. Thompson was vice president of the State National Bank of Houston, and was a large stockholder and director in the state banks located at the following points in East Texas, Trinity, Weldon, Alto, Leggett, Shepherd, Cold Springs, Corrigan, Chester, Woodville arid Colmesneil. These financial centers are in a very important section of the Lone Star State and through them a large service is being done in developing that part of the state. East Texas honors Alex Thompson for the great good he did for this section of Texas. His heart was interested here and his banks were a means whereby he could help the people to help themselves.

Mr. Thompson was married at Sherman in 1905 to Miss Gladys Walsh, a native of Grayson County, and a daughter of R. Walsh, for many years a prominent Hardware Merchant of Sherman. They have one daughter, Mozelle. The Thompson residence was erected recently. Mr. Thompson was a member of the A. F. and A. M., the Houston Country Club, the Houston Club, the University Club, the Lumbermens Club and the Presbyterian Church. During the six years in which Mr. Thompson resided in Houston, he was identified with, and took an active interest in all agencies working for the greater development of Houston and was largely interested in and did much for the furtherence of education, both in Houston and in other portions of the state. Mr. Thompson was regarded as one of the most progressive citizens of the South Texas Metropolis and was highly esteemed and respected by all who knew him.

In the passing of Alex Thompson, February 2nd, 1925, Texas lost one of its outstanding citizens who while still in the prime of his life had accomplished much for his native state.