Name William Farish Role Businessman | ||
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Similar People Neil J Howard, D Wayne Lukas, Neil D Drysdale, Vincent O'Brien, Steve Asmussen | ||
William Stamps Farish III (born March 17, 1939, in Houston, Texas) is an American businessman and a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2001 until 2004.
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Family and early life
His father, William Stamps Farish, Jr., was killed in an airplane accident during World War II. He is the grandson of William Stamps Farish II, who was President of Standard Oil from 1937 to 1942. He grew up in Houston, where he attended St. John's School. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.
Career
He began his career as a stockbroker at Underwood, Neuhaus and Company in Houston. He later served as President of Navarro Exploration Company. Farish was also a founding Director of Eurus, Inc., a bank holding company in New York as well as of Capital National Bank in Houston. Farish owns W.S. Farish & Co., a trust company based in Houston. In 2003, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Kentucky. He has served on the Board of Directors of Vaalco Energy Inc..
Lane's End Farm
A breeder of thoroughbred racehorses, in 1979 Farish bought the 240 acres that had been Bosque Bonita Farm near Lexington, Kentucky. Over the years it would be expanded to 1,800-acre (7.3 km2) and renamed Lane's End Farm. A leading breeder of horses that compete around the world, Lane's End Farm hosted Queen Elizabeth during her visit to Lexington. He also owns a home in the horse community of Wellington, Florida.
Lane's End has a secondary 400-acre (1.6 km2) operation near Hempstead, Texas. Farish's operations have bred and/or raced over 225 horses that became stakes winners, both individually and with partners. In 1972, his horse Bee Bee Bee won the Preakness Stakes and his filly Casual Look won a British Classic, the 2003 Epsom Oaks. In 1992, and again in 1999, he received the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder. Farish has served as chairman of Churchill Downs, home to the Kentucky Derby.
Ambassador to the U.K.
Farish was nominated by President George W. Bush as U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom on March 5, 2001, appointed on July 11, 2001, and served until he resigned in early summer 2004.
The United Kingdom newspaper The Guardian commented on his low profile during the period leading up to the Iraq War. Christopher Meyer, who was British Ambassador to Washington during Farish's service, said that "as ambassador [Farish] proved as agreeable as he was invisible."
Personal life
Farish wed Sarah Sharp, a stepdaughter of Bayard Sharp, when Farish was 23 and Sarah as 19. They are the parents of one son, William Stamps Farish IV, and three daughters.