Posted on August 20, 2025 by Wendy Frost
Appreciating the value of higher education, Tim, MBA '99 and Elizabeth Turner has established a $1.4 million planned gift to benefit future Alvarez business students.
Tim and Elizabeth Turner
“Education has always been important in our lives,” said Tim. “We wanted to create an opportunity for others to realize their goals and ambitions. People need help accomplishing their goals. Since we don’t have children, we’re happy to be able to help students, and in essence, the San Antonio community.”
Creating a living trust to accomplish that goal, the Turners both recommend individuals start first seeking professional, legal help to guide the process.
“Because of my landman background, I’ve dealt with estates that were left disorderly,” said Tim. “I’m a real advocate of leaving things orderly when our time comes, and we leave this world.”
“Part of this comes with our age,” adds Elizabeth, who shares that they both are turning 75 this year. “What can I do to improve the world? In this case, by helping students at UTSA. It is something people should think about sooner than later.”
Attending UT San Antonio in his 40s, Tim was positively influenced by the experience. “I loved all of my professors. I remember fondly John McCray as well as Dale and Lila Truett, and my finance professors Lalatendu Misra, Karan Bhanot and Rajan Kadapakkam,” said Tim, who was a recipient of the Texas Business Hall of Fame scholarship while a student.
Earning a concentration in finance as part of his MBA, Tim was grateful that his degree gave him credibility to go out on his own in the oil and gas industry. “I needed something to help me feel capable and qualified. UTSA gave me confidence to reinvent myself again.”
Reinvention is a common theme in Tim’s life. Influenced by his love of cultures, religion and academic discovery, his background is diverse. Following his undergraduate education in economics at the University of Houston, he became a Catholic priest and served in the mountainous region of Oaxaca, Mexico. He returned to San Antonio and worked in his father’s petroleum business before having a second calling as an Episcopalian minister.
He also served as the chief operating officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, all the while participating in his father-in-law’s drilling program in Starr County. Tim finished his active participation in the oil industry as president and owner of Paisano Petroleum when he retired in 2018. Since then, he has pursued a writing project that knits together various pieces of his past.
Although Tim and Elizabeth met as schoolmates while attending Cambridge Elementary in Alamo Heights, their romantic relationship was born from a family connection. Both their fathers were petroleum geologists, and Tim met Elizabeth’s father at an industry conference in San Antonio. Seven months after their first date, they were married.
“I was lucky that I got into the industry when it was affordable, and you could make it as an independent,” said Tim. “And I was mindful of honoring our fathers’ good reputation in the industry.”
“UTSA has always played a big part in our lives,” said Elizabeth, who earned her degree from UT-Austin in Spanish and French. “We were amazed at how many opportunities the students have. We were impressed with what UTSA has become and where it is going.”
Embarking on the next chapter of their lives, the Turners have moved into their dream home in Kerrville, and they look forward to simple pleasures like sitting on their back porch viewing wildlife or appreciating the diversity of cultures through travel.
“UTSA has the capacity to be a bridge institution between cultures,” said Tim. “The university has built a strong reputation in the community, and we are happy to support that vision.”
— Wendy Frost
