The Olin Ray Cable, Jr., Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Accounting and Finance was established by the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System on December 3, 2012, to benefit the University of Texas McCombs School of Business. The endowment honors Mr. Olin R. Cable, Jr. Gift funds were provided by Merichem Company.

Ray Cable was born September 9, 1934, in Beaumont, Texas, where he graduated from Beaumont High School as valedictorian. He graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 1956 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and served in the U.S. Navy from 1956 to 1960.

He married Jane Ellen Nicholson in 1957. Jane Ellen was born July 2, 1935, in San Benito, Texas, the descendant of a central Texas pioneer family. She graduated from Austin High School and attended UT, where she met Ray. They wed March 9, 1957, and were married for 52 years.

Cable joined Merichem in January of 1970, bringing significant financial experience with him, having graduated from Harvard Business School with an MBA in 1962 and filling financial positions at Arthur Young & Co., Houston Instruments, and Bausch & Lomb.

Cable rose to become Merichem’s vice president of finance. He served on the company’s board of directors, as well as on the board of Merisol, Merichem’s joint venture with Sasol.

Merichem is a midsize private company, led mainly by engineers and chemists, but operates corporate systems like a larger company. Ray’s experience provided the Merichem board the knowledge and leadership they needed to operate like a large public company while remaining a relatively small company.

Merichem provides technical answers to its industrial customers in the form of technology, equipment, chemicals, catalysts, and services. Like all companies, Merichem’s success involves finance, accounting, business systems, and corporate governance. Ray Cable was key to making Merichem’s business systems and governance strong and a point of pride for the company.

Merichem endowed the Olin Ray Cable, Jr., Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Accounting and Finance to provide students an education in the financial and accounting fields that Ray Cable brought to the company and with which he helped make Merichem’s ventures successful.