Robert Wilmot Hervey TX OBIT

Dec. 25, 2001, 10:08PM

Ex-mayoral hopeful Robert Hervey, 78
By RON NISSIMOV
Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle

Robert Wilmot Hervey, former president of the world's largest outboard boat dealership who twice ran unsuccessfully for Houston mayor, died Thursday from complications related to Parkinson's disease.

He was 78, passing away at his River Oaks home under hospice care.

A lifelong Democrat who described himself as a non-ideological political moderate, Hervey was a novice in the local political scene when he surprisingly forced Louis Welch into a runoff in the 1963 mayoral race. In that contest, Hervey pledged to cut water rates, censor "lewd films" and form a commission to improve race relations, earning the endorsement of many black and Hispanic organizations. He was handily defeated by Welch.

He ran again in 1973 without making a runoff, vowing to cut property taxes, defeat a proposed transit authority and blasting the planned development of a city sports arena at Greenway Plaza as a "windfall profit" for developers.

Later in life, he was an inspiration to his family as he struggled with Parkinson's disease for 17 years. He and his wife helped raise money for local Parkinson's disease associations.

"He loved his family very much; his family did come at the top of his list," said his wife of 57 years, Doris Delhomme Hervey. The couple had three daughters, eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren, all of whom survive.

Born Nov. 18, 1923, in Hubbard City to Wilmot G. and Cathryn Mosley Hervey, he married into a family business that would catapult him from his middle class upbringing to the life of a multimillionaire in Houston's wealthiest neighborhood.

Hervey met his future wife while they were both students at Southern Methodist University, and they married in 1944. He earned a degree in business administration at SMU and attended law school there for one year before starting a two-year tour as a Navy communications officer during the end and aftermath of World War II.

The couple moved to Houston in 1946, and he started working for C.B. Delhomme, Inc., an outboard boat dealership started by his father-in-law. Hervey became president of the firm in the 1950s, when it was the world's largest pleasure boat dealership.

Hervey's father started and owned a few Leslie's Chicken Shack restaurants in the Dallas area, but his family was not wealthy, Doris Hervey said.

She said her husband wanted to become mayor because, "He really wanted the best not just himself, but everybody. He felt America was for everybody, not just one group," she said.

The widow said Hervey was "very disappointed" at not winning the post. He was involved in other civic activities, but mostly devoted his energies to his family and business.

A devout Methodist, he served on a commission in the late 1960s that tried to defeat a referendum that allowed horse race betting in Texas. He applied to run for Congress in 1963 after losing the mayoral race, but then withdrew from the Congressional race.

"His family was his whole life," said his grandson, David Laux, of Houston, "I think he worried more over that than anything else. I saw him all the time as a kid growing up, probably four days a week, from hitting golf balls at River Oaks to going to his ranch (in Columbus)."

In 1958, he won the Houston Jaycees Distinguished Service Award, and, in the early 1960s, he served on a governor's water commission. He was an officer and member of many organizations, including: former president of the SMU Alumni Association and founder of the Houston chapter of that organization, founder of the Pony Club of Houston, board member of the First Methodist Church in Houston and a Sunday school teacher at the church, board member of the Methodist Hospital, former president of the Houston Heart Association, member of the Downtown Rotary Club, and member of the Parkinson Foundation of Harris County and Houston Area Parkinson Society, which honored Hervey and his wife with a gala.

Funeral services and a reception will be 10 a.m. today at the First United Methodist Church, 1220 Main. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the First United Methodist Church, the Houston Area Parkinson Society, the Parkinson Foundation of Harris County, or the charity of the donor's choice.