Texas Governor, Businessman. A farmer until 1896, he owned several businesses during his lifetime. He donated his home in LaPorte, Texas to the Houston Optimist Club in memory of his son, Ross, Sterling, Jr. who passed away in 1924. The home became a boys camp. Sour Lake, Texas was the site of his feed store in 1903. It was in that year that he purchased several banks and began to operate oil wells. In 1910 he purchased the first two. From these two wells he developed the Humble Oil Company in 1911. He served as president of the company until 1925. He then sold the company and went on to develop real estate in the Houston area. Humble Oil Company later became the Exxon Company. The Houston Post newspaper was formed as a later incarnation of the Houston Dispatch and the Houston Post, which he had purchased in 1925 and 1926. The two newspapers were merged to become the Houston Post-Dispatch and later the Houston Post. Inaugurated governor of Texas on January 20, 1931, he served until 1933 when he lost his bid for re-election. After serving as governor he went on to invest in many business opportunities including Sterling Oil and Refining Company, American Maid Flour Mills, and R.S. Sterling Investments. He served as one of the original board members of the Hermann Hospital Estate. He retired in 1946. (bio by: Julie Karen Hancock  (Cooper) Jackson)  Family links:  Parents:  Benjamin Franklin Sterling (1831 – 1917)  Mary Jane Bryan Sterling (1838 – 1888)  Spouse:  Maud Gage Sterling (1874 – 1963)*  Children:  Norma Sterling Miller (1909 – 1952)*  Siblings:  Samuel Houston Sterling (1859 – 1901)*  Cora Angelica Sterling Barrow (1861 – 1952)*  Anna Leora Sterling Barrow (1864 – 1953)**  Oliver Bryan Sterling (1866 – 1946)**  Florence Mary Sterling (1871 – 1940)*  Ross Shaw Sterling (1875 – 1949)  Catherine Lazinia Sterling Koehler (1877 – 1954)*  Benjamin Garland Sterling (1878 – 1921)*  James Bennett Sterling (1878 – 1941)*  Albert Alexander Sterling (1881 – 1964)** *Calculated relationship**Half-sibling