Robert J. Kleberg III

Robert "Mr. Bob" Justus Kleberg III (March 29, 1896 – October 13, 1974) was an American rancher and horse breeder who managed the King Ranch, where the Santa Gertrudis breed of cattle was developed in the early twentieth century.

Early life and education Kleberg was born on March 29, 1896, in Corpus Christi, Texas, to rancher Robert J. Kleberg Jr. and his wife Alice Gertrude (née King). A member of the Kleberg family, his grandparents included pioneer Robert J. Kleberg (paternal) and rancher Richard King (maternal), and his brother was politician Richard M. Kleberg. He was officially named Robert Justus Kleberg III, although he was commonly referred to as Robert J. Kleberg Jr., as his father was not commonly referred to with the junior suffix.

Kleberg completed undergraduate science work at University of Wisconsin–Madison, leaving in 1916. In 1967, he received an honorary degree from the university, which followed an honorary agricultural science degree from Texas A&M University in 1941. which included land in the states of Florida, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, as well as the countries of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Morocco, Spain, and Venezuela; He also raised his nephews B. K. Kleberg Johnson and Bobby Shelton after the deaths of their parents; both went on to become ranchers.

In 1995, Bob Kleberg and the King Ranch: A Worldwide Sea of Grass, a memoir written by his assistant, John Cypher, was published.