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Gerald Lyda (January 12, 1923 – November 14, 2005)[1] was an American cattle rancher, contractor and developer from the state of Texas.
Lyda was born inBurnet County at the edge of theTexas Hill Country in Central Texas. His grandfather was Gideon Paloris Lyda, who worked as a foreman on Thomas Lyons and Angus Campbell's LC Ranch nearSilver City, New Mexico. Separated from his family aged 10 by his mother's death and the foreclosure on the family farm, Lyda worked for various ranches throughout theTexas Hill Country.
DuringWorld War II, Lyda worked for the railroad, but soon became a carpenter with a largeEl Paso–basedgeneral contractor, working on military projects throughoutTexas,Utah andColorado. Returning to Texas between construction jobs, hebroke horses, worked as a ranch hand, occasionally competed insaddle bronc riding at small-townrodeos, and learned the art ofsaddle-making.
Lyda married Randa Jean Lyda and moved toNixon, Texas, to manage the Evans Ranch. To support his family, he quit working as a cowboy in 1947 and was hired as a carpenter with Farnsworth & Chambers, a large building contractor with headquarters inHouston, working under supervisor/mentor H. Alvin Lott. In late 1954, the 31-year-old Lyda was transferred toSan Antonio to be project superintendent for the construction ofWilford Hall Hospital atLackland Air Force Base. After the hospital was completed on time and within budget, he was promoted to Area Superintendent.
In 1960, Lyda formed his own construction company, Darragh & Lyda, with Burnet County rancher Steinmetz Darragh. In the mid-1960s, a joint venture between theSan Antonio–based company and H. A. Lott Inc. built theTower of the Americas, and most of the majorHemisFair '68 structures inSan Antonio.
The Lyda organization grew to be a major Texas general contractor, carrying out such projects as theAlamodome, the expansion of theUniversity of Texas Memorial Stadium, the Hyatt Hill Country Resort Hotel, theSan Antonio Convention Center, the Westin La Cantera Resort Hotel and theFiesta Texas theme park, as well as hospitals, hotels, banks and office buildings. The company and its subsidiaries were ranked among the Top 400 Contractors byEngineering News-Record, and were consistently ranked among the top three commercial building contractors inSan Antonio, based on billings, by theSan Antonio Business Journal. In 2003, Lyda sold Lyda Constructors Inc., the 100% owned subsidiary of Lyda Inc., to Swinerton, Inc. of San Francisco.[2]
After the sale, Lyda retired to his 220,000-acre La Escalera Ranch south ofFort Stockton, Texas. By 1999, he had owned or traded more than 880,000 acres (3600 km²) of ranch real estate, including the large Ladder Ranch in southeasternNew Mexico, which he eventually sold toTed Turner andJane Fonda.
Lyda died in 2005. His sons and daughter manage the La Escalera Ranch, which spreads across four Texas counties, and has been ranked byTexas Monthly,The Land Report, andWorth magazine as one of the largest cattleranches in the United States. One of his sons,Gene, was a professionalbull rider in his youth.
