Khleber Van Zandt Attwell, Jr.

Khleber Van Zandt Attwell, Jr., died at home in Houston on Thursday, July 29, 2021. He was 90 years old and had been in declining health for several years. Born in Houston on Groundhog Day, February 2, 1931, he was a fifth-generation Houstonian and proud of his Texas roots. His paternal great-great-grandfather, Isaac Van Zandt, served as Gen. Sam Houston’s emissary to Washington to negotiate the annexation of the Republic of Texas to the United States. Khleber spent his entire life in Houston except for three years as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, mostly in the South Pacific. At Officer Candidate School, he graduated first in his class with the highest GPA but also the highest number of demerits. He loved life at sea and went for almost three years without a glimpse of the continental US.

The son of Khleber V. Attwell and Lucille McAshan Attwell, he received his early education in Houston public schools, graduating from Lamar High School in 1949. In 1953, he graduated from Rice University (then The Rice Institute).  As a teenager, he earned Eagle Scout rank in Troop 55 at the Church of St. John the Divine. In 1958, he married Toni Cannon, also of Houston, just as he was beginning his arduous ascent into Houston’s business world, armed only with a liberal arts degree and his native wits. Fortunately, he was blessed with a fine mind and a unique gift for understanding numbers. To him, they were a language he intuitively grasped - one that was beautiful, full of meaning, and deeply satisfying.

In 1962, he earned his CPA and later, the fifth Certificate of Management Accounting awarded in the country. He spent the first 30 years of his career with the accounting firm Ernst and Ernst. There, he became a partner and headed Houston’s management consulting services while serving local, national, and international clients. Along the way, he earned a Master’s degree at The University of Texas School of Public Health. He spent his later years at Ernst as an audit partner concentrating on privately owned businesses before retiring in 1989. Shortly thereafter, he began the second half of his career when he formed Attwell and Associates and consulted independently. He took pride in staying actively employed into his mid-eighties: clients’ knotty fiscal issues continued to challenge and delight him.

Especially rewarding were the friendships he forged while consulting, not only with members of management but also with staff employees. Over the years, he mentored many young men and women in their career paths inside and outside of business. In time, Khleber’s reputation as a talented accountant with sound judgment and impeccable integrity made him an inevitable choice to advise several high-profile organizations. He was an adjunct professor at Rice University’s Jones School of Business for 11 years and the director and chairman of the audit committee at Stewart & Stevenson for seven years.

During his professional life he was known as a man of few words who listened carefully, weighed options, and used discretion. As a bonus, his droll sense of humor provided comic relief in situations just when it was most needed. Khleber could share with intimate friends the secret pleasure he derived from occasions when a chatty stranger on a plane would ask what he did for a living. “I’m an accountant,” he would reply, and sure enough that response was guaranteed to stop the conversation dead in its tracks. For Khleber, a private person with a rich inner life, such cover was a gift from heaven.

The other major focus in Khleber’s life was his family. Above all else, he prized his wife, Toni, to whom he was married for almost 64 years, and their three children – Bunny, Chap, and Gus. It pleased him that all three grew up to become fine physicians. A fourth child, Annie, died in an accident in 1968. From his earliest years as a husband and father, he worked tirelessly to provide for the family materially, emotionally, and educationally. Especially precious to him were family getaways to South Padre Island when the children were younger. Perhaps his most important gifts to them were his devotion, emotional accessibility, and example.

Throughout his adult life, Khleber remained interested in current events both at home and abroad, especially as they were influenced by geography, history, and leadership. He read The New York Times daily and felt gratified to have been on the right side of history when he marched down Houston’s Main Street for Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1960’s. He was a lifelong Episcopalian of the “Old Prayer Book” variety and a member of River Oaks Country Club for decades.

As a young man, Khleber fought in the Golden Gloves and worked for a pittance as a cowboy on one of the largest cattle spreads in South Texas. Later, he would learn Spanish well enough to address a native community in rural Guatemala as a Christian lay missionary. As an old man, he continued to study history and geography. He mastered the art of leveraging his working relationships with bright young technical talents to communicate simple, effective solutions to clients and co-workers.   

            Shakespeare observes such a character’s complexity:

“His life was gentle, and the elements so mixed in him that Nature might stand up and say to all the world, “This was a man!”  

            The loss of Khleber is incalculable.

He was preceded in death by his parents, by his daughter Annie Van Zandt Attwell, by an adored older sister who died as a child, Lucille (Puddin) Attwell, and recently by his only brother, Kirby, and by a host of cousins.

Left to mourn his loss and cherish his memory are his widow, Tonia Cannon Attwell, daughter Lucille Emilie (Bunny) Attwell, sons Khleber Chapman (Chap) Attwell (and wife Dr. Elizabeth Ford) and Augustin (Gus) Rawlins Attwell; brother-in-law Philip Cannon and wife Maurie; four grandchildren: Isaac Van Zandt Becker, Antonia Elizabeth Becker, Nathaniel Seabury Attwell, Alexandra Van Zandt Attwell; and god-daughter Kendall Frederick Pron, as well as many friends and former associates.

The family offers special thanks to caregiver Wanda Rodgers, who was with Khleber from the beginning, and caregivers Theresa Akins, Karem Munoz and Gavino Torres, all of whom contributed so greatly to Khleber’s comfort. 

Due to current health conditions, the family anticipates a small graveside service for friends and former associates. The rite of Christian burial will take place at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, August 13, 2021 in Glenwood Cemetery, 2525 Washington Avenue, Houston, Texas 77007. Mask wearing is requested.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) or the charity of your choice.