Rosser Coke Newton, Sr. is a native Texan and a prominent businessman residing in Dallas, Texas. He is an indirect descendant of Richard Coke, the fifteenth governor of Texas, who also served eighteen years as a U.S. senator.
Mr. Newton’s interest in history grew during his tenure as a student at Vanderbilt University. There, he became interested in Texas history—particularly life on the nineteenth-century frontier, a period in which Richard Coke played a crucial role. This love of history was partially responsible for Mr. Newton receiving Vanderbilt’s class writing award for journalism as well as its award for distinction in both political science and French. His book, Richard Coke: Texan, combines these interests into a narrative about governing change in the turbulent period of Texas history between 1850 and 1900.
Mr. Newton’s love of history extends into his personal and philanthropic life. An avid collector of Texas memorabilia, he serves as a trustee of the Dallas Historical Society. He is additionally the co-founder and co-chair of the Alamo Letter Society, which is placing bronze plaques with Travis’s last letter from the Alamo (1836) in Texas county courthouses. He is a significant benefactor of and participant in a wide range of cultural and civic organizations and is a founding member of the Dallas Arboretum Foundation and a director emeritus of the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, which the extended Coke family has supported for decades.
Mr. Newton received his B.A. from Vanderbilt University (Phi Beta Kappa) and earned his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law. Although he is no longer a practicing attorney, he passed the Texas State Bar exam in 1992. With more than thirty-five years of energy banking and investing experience—including with Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch—Mr. Newton founded Petro Capital Group in 2002 and has served as chairman or director of numerous petroleum-related companies.
Mr. Newton is also the author of Reflections on Love: Time and Nature and The Need for a Little More, a book of personal photography and poetic philosophy. He is an avid outdoorsman, and this love of nature is reflected in his upcoming poetry book focused on the environment. Mr. Newton lives in Dallas, Texas, and has three children.
