AP Photo/David J. Phillip
Cal McNair, left, walks alongside his mother, Janice McNair, during a Houston Texans football game.
Janice McNair, co-founder and senior chair of the Houston Texans, died on Tuesday at the age of 89, the Texans announced.
McNair became the principal owner of the NFL team upon the death of her husband, Bob McNair, in 2018. Since then, their son, Cal, was named principal owner of the team.
Forbes estimated Janice McNair’s worth to be more than $7 billion.
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“Mom was exceptional,” Cal McNair said in a statement. “It’s impossible to describe the profound gratitude that my sisters, Ruth and Melissa, and I feel for having her as our mom. Outside of our family, nothing mattered more to her than her beloved Texans. I remain honored to lead this franchise and build on the foundation my parents set when they brought football back to Houston.”
McNair is survived by four children, 16 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. Details of a funeral were not immediately shared by the Texans.
“Mrs. McNair was an incredible woman who will be deeply missed,” Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said in a news release. “As a player, she and Mr. McNair built an organization that felt like a family and it was a true honor to play for them. I will always remember the day I came home to Houston in 2023. Mrs. McNair welcomed me back into the Texans family with open arms and her signature warm smile. We shared the same vision of bringing the organization to new heights and I will continue to work every day to accomplish that goal. My thoughts and prayers are with Cal, Hannah and their family during this time.”
Janice McNair and her husband, Bob, had been in the Houston area since 1960. The Texans estimated the family had contributed more than half-a-billion dollars to charity, largely through the Robert and Janice McNair Foundation, the Houston Texans Foundation and the Robert and Janice McNair Educational Foundation. Janice served as a director of each of those three foundations.
“Janice was an extraordinary mentor, inspirational role model and visionary leader,” Hannah McNair, chief community officer of the Houston Texans Foundation, said in a statement. “Giving back has always been the heartbeat of our organization and that started with Janice. I’m honored to carry her legacy and love of sports and community forward. She will be sorely missed and remain a shining example for us all.”
In 2024, the McNair family was in a legal dispute after Cary McNair, another son of Bob and Janice, sought to have his mother declared incapacitated and have himself appointed as her guardian. Cary McNair dropped that effort soon after, though he is suing the NFL for purportedly excluding him from his family’s business interests.
The Texans did not share a cause of death. Janice McNair had previously been treated for breast cancer.