Farish was an only child. His father, Army Lt. William Stamps Farish Jr., died in a training flight near
Waxahachie, Texas, when he was 4 years old. His grandfather was
William Stamps Farish II, the founder of
Humble Oil and Refining Company, which struck oil in the
Houston suburb
Humble, part of what was later to become the
Exxon behemoth. William Stamps Farish II was appointed chairman of
Standard Oil of New Jersey in 1933 and was its president from 1937 to 1942. His other grandfather was
Robert E. Wood, who was the chief executive officer of
Sears, Roebuck & Co. Wood was the leader in the
Old Right movement from the 1920s through the 1960s as well as a key financial backer of the
America First Committee. Farish grew up in Houston, where he attended
St. John's School and, after graduating from South Kent School (CT) during 1958, graduated from the
University of Virginia. His mother, who before her marriage was Mary Wood, was said to be close to
George H. W. Bush (later 41st President of the United States) and his wife
Barbara Bush. When George Bush moved to Texas in 1948, it was the Farish connection that gave him his start in his career in the
oil industry. Farish was taken in "almost like family," said Barbara Bush, during her husband's unsuccessful
U.S. Senate campaign in
1964. During that campaign, Farish claimed to have been the first man to whom Bush confided his ultimate aim was to be president one day. The Bush-Farish alliance dated back to 1929. In that year the
Wall Street investment bank of
W. Averell Harriman bought
Dresser Industries (later
Halliburton), a supplier of oil-pipeline to
Standard Oil and other oil companies. George H. W. Bush's father,
Prescott Bush, was a
Harriman and Company executive who became a director and financier of Dresser and he served on the board of directors for 22 years. ==Career==