Watson William Wise; Texas Oilman, Philanthropist

Watson William Wise, 89 , a Texas oilman and philanthropist who was appointed a U.N. delegate by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. A native of Ohio, Wise graduated from Yale and moved in 1925 to Texas, where he started Wise Operating Inc., Wise Drilling Inc. and Watburn Oil Co. Wise funded dialysis centers in several Texas cities, Paris and Seoul in memory of his father, William A. Wise, who died of kidney failure in 1946. Wise also funded the Watson W. and Emma Wise Cultural Arts Center and Wise Auditorium at Tyler Junior College, where he served on the Board of Trustees from 1950 to 1970. In 1958, Eisenhower appointed Wise a delegate to the United Nations’ 13th General Assembly. On Saturday in Tyler, Tex.