Ruth Ray Hunt

Ruth Ray Hunt, second of three wives of storied Texas oil tycoon H.L. Hunt, believed to be one of the richest men in the world when he died in 1974, married her in 1957 and adopted her four children after the death of his first wife, Lyda Bunker Hunt, in 1955. Ruth Ray Hunt raised three daughters and a son, Dallas businessman Ray L. Hunt. By his first wife, H.L. Hunt had six children - H.L. Hunt III, Nelson Bunker Hunt, William Herbert Hunt, Caroline Hunt Schoellkopf, Margaret Hunt Hill and Lamar Hunt. Mrs. Hunt's major public gifts supported the H.L. and Ray Hunt Heart Center at Baylor University Medical Center, the Ruth Ray Hunt Cancer Learning Center at the American Cancer Center and the Ruth Ray Hunt Center at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research. First Baptist Church of Dallas named a building in her honor, and she served on the boards of Criswell College, Dallas Baptist University and Baylor University Medical Center. She is survived by her sister, Swann Lake Buckels, brother James Ray of Idabel, Okla.; her children, Ray, June, Helen and Swanee Hunt; 17 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.