Happy Birthday, Cecil H. Green

Rubbing Cecil Green’s bust outside Green Hall for good luck on final exams has become a campus tradition.

On Aug. 6, 1900, Cecil H. Green was born in Manchester, England. Here are few facts you may not know about one of UTD’s three founders:

(Photo courtesy of the National Archives.)

Green and his mother survived the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 while his father was away looking for work in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Greens.

In 1923, while studying in Schenectady, New York, Green met his future wife, Ida Flansburgh. They were married 60 years until her death in 1986.

The founders and their wives. From left: Ida Green, Cecil Green, Margaret Jonsson, Erik Jonsson, Margaret McDermott and Eugene McDermott.

Green, along with UTD co-founders J. Erik Jonsson and Eugene McDermott, helped establish Texas Instruments.

(Photo courtesy of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.)

In 1991, Queen Elizabeth II of England made Cecil Green an Honorary Knight of the British Empire in honor of his famed philanthropy. According to Texas Instruments, Green’s giving included 50 academic, medical and civic buildings; 28 endowed chairs at 15 institutions; and 20 special instructional and research facilities. UT Dallas has the Cecil and Ida Green Center and Green Hall.