Robert C. (Bob) McNair (born 1937 in Tampa, Florida) is an American businessman and the owner of the National Football League team, the Houston Texans in Houston, Texas and Thoroughbred horse racing's Stonerside Stable in Paris, Kentucky.
McNair grew up in western North Carolina and graduated from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, where he was initiated into the Sigma Chi Fraternity, in 1958 with a Bachelor of Science degree. His future wife, Janice, attended nearby Columbia College. In 1998, they established the McNair Scholar Program University of South Carolina and in 1999, Robert McNair received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from the university.
The McNairs have been residents of Houston, Texas since 1960 where he founded cogeneration company Cogen Technologies, which was sold in 1999 to Enron. Today, McNair retains ownership in power plants in New York and West Virginia. McNair now serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The McNair Group, a financial and real estate firm that is headquartered in Houston, Texas. He is also the owner of Palmetto Partners, Ltd., a private investment company that manages the McNairs' public and private equity investments, and is Chairman of the McNair Foundation. In June 2000, McNair formed a biotechnology investment firm, Cogene Biotech Ventures, where he serves as company chairman.
