He was born on February 18, 1891, in
Mexia, Texas, to
John Lee Wortham and Fannie Sessions. He moved with his father to
Houston and opened John L. Wortham and Son, an insurance agency. Eleven years later he founded the American General Insurance Company with
Jesse H. Jones,
James A. Elkins, and
John W. Link. American General was acquired by
American International Group on August 29, 2001. Wortham's daughter Diana Wortham is a
philanthropist who contributed to
Pack Place in
Asheville, North Carolina, where the
Diana Wortham Theatre is named for her. He died on September 1, 1976. The family home, the Wortham House, was donated by the Wortham Foundation on behalf of Lyndall Wortham to the
University of Houston as a residence for the university's system chancellor who, by contract, must reside in the Wortham House during their tenure. ==References==