Remembering Ben Love

Ben F. Love died Jan. 13, only two days after the announcement that the goal had been reached in the $200 million New Frontiers campaign, which he co-chaired. He was aware that the campaign, which benefits the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM), had successfully reached its goal.

Ben F. Love

Love, who was 81, was president and chairman of what is now JPMorgan Chase Bank, formerly Texas Commerce Bank, from 1969 until his retirement in 1989. Under his leadership, Texas Commerce grew from one bank with $1 billion in assets to 80 banks with over $20 billion in assets. JP Morgan Chase is now the largest bank in Texas.

A life member of the Development Board at The University of Texas Health Science at Houston, Love said his support was inspired by the incredible advances in medicine originating at the UT Health Science Center and the other institutions of the Texas Medical Center.

“Those of us not working directly in the laboratories and hospitals to develop these treatments and cures must do our part to provide the financial fuel for those who are,” he said.

At the UT Medical School at Houston, he chaired the Weatherhead Challenge in 1999, helping to raise more than $10 million for the Weatherhead P.E.T. Center for Preventing and Reversing Atherosclerosis. He also contributed to scholarships at the UT School of Nursing at Houston over the years.

He was a member of the UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors, as well as a director and executive committee member of the Texas Medical Center.

His son, Jeff B. Love, managing partner of Locke Liddell & Sapp, is a member of the Development Board and the New Frontiers campaign steering committee.

“Ben Love was a tireless and very courageous leader and builder of many of the efforts in the Texas Medical Center, including at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston,” said UT Health Science Center President James T. Willerson, M.D. “He played a major role in our recent campaign to raise $200 million for the Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, and he helped with many other efforts to create excellence in education and research in medicine in Houston.

“He was a deeply committed Texan, and he supported The University of Texas enthusiastically and vigorously in all of its efforts,” Willerson said. “He was a very special man, and one that all of Texas will miss greatly.”

At last year’s Development Board dinner, Willerson announced that the lobby outside the auditorium will be named for Ben Love in the new Fayez S. Sarofim Research Building that will house the IMM.

Love was honored at the 2005 luncheon of PARTNERS, the community support group for the School of Nursing. Patricia Starck, D.S.N., the John P. McGovern Distinguished Professor and dean, announced at the luncheon that a sophisticated electronic mannikin had been named Mr. Ben “in honor of our very special friend Ben Love.” The simulated patient is used for training nursing students.

A native of Vernon, Texas, Love served as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He completed a business degree at UT Austin. After moving to Houston, he started his own company and then entered the banking industry. In 2004 he was honored by the Greater Houston Partnership as “Houston’s Greatest Individual.”