Ray Hunt is said to be the inspiration for the “Dallas” character J.R. Ewing. He is the son of wildcatter HL Hunt, and serves as chairman and CEO of Hunt Consolidated, which includes Hunt Oil, one of the country’s largest privately held oil companies.
He controls Hunt Realty Investments, which owns several prominent commercial properties in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, including the Hyatt Regency Dallas at Reunion, Reunion Tower and DFW Freeport Business Park. Many of these were developed by Woodbine Development, which was formed in 1972 through Hunt's partnership with John Scovell.
Woodbine, which remains largely funded by the Hunts, has become a heavy-hitter in the Dallas hospitality world, with over $3B in acquisitions, renovations and development projects and more than 7,000 hotel rooms.
Hunt also owns 190,000 acres of ranching land. Along with his son, Hunter, he founded InfraREIT, the first REIT for electronic transmission assets. The company offered an IPO in 2016. — Scott Klocksin
