“Burt B. Holmes”
6/9
Oil on canvas
40″ × 30″
This portrait of Burt B. Holmes hangs in a boardroom named after him at the University of Tulsa. In the background of the painting, under the “TU” logo, is the school motto — rendered in Hebrew — of the University:
Wisdom, Faithfulness, Service
(“Chockmah, Emunah, Avodah”)
A believer in lifelong learning, Mr. Holmes is an accomplished entrepreneur and steadfast supporter of arts, education, and community. Mild-mannered and unassuming, Holmes has been at the center of a number of successful business ventures, including the launch of one of America’s best-known convenience store chains, QuikTrip Corporation, which he co-founded in 1958 with Chester Cadieux.
Among numerous other business ventures, he also founded Burt B. Holmes and Associates, which later became The Holmes Organization, Inc. He also promoted Tulsa’s first high-rise suburban office building, Southland Financial Center. Currently, he is leading fundraising efforts for the Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Garden, a world-class botanical garden being created in the Osage Hills seven miles northwest of downtown Tulsa.
A devoted collector of art, Holmes attended the University of Tulsa on a basketball scholarship as a freshman and earned a B.S. in Business Administration in 1954. The university honored Mr. Holmes in 1977 as a Distinguished Alumnus, and the College of Business named him an Outstanding Alumnus in 2002.
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