Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 123
successful industrial entrepreneur to have ever lived in Bryan and reigned supreme in
the financial community. He was also on the board of regents of Texas A&M. In this
position, he had seen the benefit to the university in cooperating with Randy Sims to
provide right-of-way for access to Westwood Estates. Among many other possessions,
Ford owned some 160 acres separating BCMUD1 from the inner city of Bryan. Being a
man of extraordinary vision and a great risk taker himself, he agreed to add this acreage
to our district, thus providing his land with utilities and allowing us to be an even more
viable entity. This annexation took place just as BCMUD1 sold its first $845,000 bond
issue on July 13, 1975. Eventually Galco Engineering bought his land at a price already
improved by the existence of utilities and sold it to Braver, who in turn subdivided it and
retailed it for substantial gain. As a Texas A&M regent, Ford also understood the
significance of Braver’s developments on the western side of the university’s properties
and facilitated opening access to Westwood Estates. From the time I met him, Ford
became an exemplary figure and enriched my life with his insights and friendship.
Shortly after I went into business, it was necessary to engage the services of a local
attorney to handle my numerous non-MUD transactions. I was introduced to Don
Mauro, a young Bryan native who was just trying to start his law practice. I was
impressed by his interest and commitment to see me successful. He was a rare lawyer
in that he was more concerned with creating values than in loading transactions with
legal fees, often not submitting any. I quickly acquired great respect for his abilities,
honesty and his modus operandi. He did much to help me conceive sub-projects and
find buyers for them; at least one time chasing me across the oceans all the way to
Cochabamba to get my signature on needed papers.
Don Mauro complemented our team very well. With his ample legal knowledge and
entrepreneurial bent, he helped both BCMUD1 and my companies achieve our goals
with minimum legal costs. His assistance in my dealings with City of Bryan councilmen
was also very important. In 1980, we fought back an effort by uninformed new residents
of Westwood Estates to annex the BCMUD1 into the city before we had completed
another bond issue needed for the development. Councilmen Wayne Gibson, Henry
Seal and Peyton Waller, demonstrating that political honesty was still alive and well,
convinced a majority of their colleagues to vote against annexation. Thus, they kept the
unwritten covenant into which the city had entered when it forced my group to find its
own ways to fund its developments. By 1981, we had completed our second bond
issue, our bonded indebtedness was lower then the city’s, and the purchasers of Braver
had no objection to annexation. Thus, the BCMUD1 became a part of Bryan as of that
year. I still treasure the memories of my relationship with Don.
In a complicated transaction that finally closed on June 4, 1981, Don and a partner
bought The Braver Corp., Inc., and liquidated the company. My professor friends and I
did very well. Through dividends that Braver began paying after 1976, the original
partners received profit distributions amounting to about 5.3 times the original equity. At
closing we received another amount about 10 times our investment. In addition we are,
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