James Lindsay Embrey Jr., a recent recipient of the SMU Distinguished Alumni Award, passed away Friday evening at his home in Dallas. He was 80 years old.
Embrey was chair of First Continental Enterprises and co-owner of several shopping centers and apartment complexes.
During his years as an SMU student, Embrey participated in the V-12 program, which provided Navy officers workstations from the nation’s campuses during World War II.
As an undergraduate, Embrey was president of Phi Delta Theta fraternity and lettered as a varsity guard for the SMU men’s basketball team. He earned a B.S. in civil engineering in 1945 and a B.B.A. in 1947 from SMU.
Embrey served on the School of Engineering Executive Board and on the SMU Board of Trustees. He also chaired both the SMU Alumni Board and Mustang Club.
He and his wife, Bobbie, received the 1999 Mustang Award. In 2004, the School of Engineering presented Embrey the Hall of Leaders Distinguished Alumni Award. In 1978, Embrey established an endowment that has provided scholarships for more than 2,000 students.
“The students meant the most to him,” said Barbara Hollis, who is the director of development for the school of engineering and a close family friend. “That’s who he cared about the most.”
Currently under construction, the J. Lindsay Embrey, Jr. Engineering building will be open for classes by mid-August 2006. Embrey and his wife donated the new building to the university, which will house the civil, environmental and mechanical engineering programs.
“He loved his alma mater and we [the university] were a huge part of his life, which is pretty neat,” Hollis said.
Embrey is survived by his wife, Bobbie G. Sherwood Embrey; his two daughters, Gayle Nelson Embrey and Lauren Marsh Embrey; his two grandsons Jeffrey Daniel Dean Harwell Jr. and James Lindsay Embrey Harwell; and his stepchildren, Robert Sherwood Pirtle, James Taylor Pirtle and Jeanann Pirtle Bierdz. Embrey is also survived by his foster son, David Moore, and his cousin, Bryan Marquis.
A public memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Spring Valley United Methodist Church at 7700 Spring Valley Rd. The Rev. Dr. Don R. Benton will officiate, and SMU President Dr. R. Gerald Turner will deliver the eulogy.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be sent to the J. Lindsay Embrey Jr. Engineering Building Fund, P.O. Box 750402, Dallas, Texas 75275, according to SMU News and Communications.