Since its founding in 1977, the Shield-Ayres Foundation has awarded more than $22 million in grants to charitable organizations with programs that focus primarily on Austin, San Antonio, or select areas where the Trustees have special interests. 

Robert M. Ayres, Jr. (Bob) and Patricia Shield Ayres (Pat) have made lifelong commitments to serving others, seeing us all as members of one human family.

Patricia Shield Ayres (Pat)

Pat is particularly concerned with the needs of children and has been active on both domestic and international levels. In 1971, she was appointed by Governor Dolph Briscoe to the board of the Texas Youth Commission, a state agency responsible for adjudicated youth. For many years, she served as a national board member and president of Bread for the World, a citizens’ movement that advocates to alleviate hunger in the United States and around the world.

Robert M. Ayres, Jr. (Bob)

Bob made his career as an investment banker. In 1972, he took an extended leave of absence to assist the Episcopal Church’s relief efforts in Honduras following Hurricane Fifi and in Guatemala following an earthquake. Maintaining a strong commitment to education, Bob served as chairperson of the boards and led capital campaigns for the Texas Military Institute (TMI) Episcopal School of Texas and The University of the South, where he served as president from 1977-1988.