PEACE, JOHN ROBERT (1917-1974). John Robert Peace, lawyer and public official, was born in Wharton, Texas, on January 24, 1917, the son of John Robert and Lillie Ellen (Stack) Peace. After attending public school in East Bernard, he studied one year at Schreiner Institute in Kerrville before transferring to the University of Texas, where he received an LL.B. degree in 1939. He began law practice in San Antonio that same year and practiced there the remainder of his life. On November 18, 1939, he was married to Ruby McGee; they had three children. Peace was named by Governor John Connally^qv as a member of the University of Texas board of regents in 1967. He was chairman of the board from 1971 until 1973, and is credited with being the driving force in establishing the University of Texas at San Antonio. He was executive assistant attorney general for Texas and served on the state Democratic Executive Committee from 1956 to 1960. He was chairman of the Public Safety Commission and was a trustee of St. Mary's University. He was also a director of the San Antonio Livestock Exposition, the Texas Law Enforcement Foundation and the Sam Rayburn^qv Foundation, and was vice president and general counsel of the Burke Foundation. Periodically he was a visiting professor at St. Mary's University Law School. He served on the board of directors of the First National Bank of San Antonio, Station KLRN-TV, and Southwest Airlines.^qv During World War II^qv he was in the Marine Corps, from which he retired as a first lieutenant. Peace was an avid collector of Texana. His collection of some 900 books and 500 documents dating back to the 1700s was donated to the University of Texas at San Antonio. He died at his home in San Antonio on August 17, 1974, and he was buried at Sunset Memorial Park there.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.

Joe B. Frantz