{{Short description|American conservationist and rancher (1873–1946)}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | image = Caesar Kleberg.jpg | caption = Kleberg in a 1937 publication of ''The Nome Nugget'' | birth_date = {{birth date|1873|09|20}} | birth_place = Cuero, Texas, US | death_date = {{Death date and age|1946|04|19|1873|09|20}} | death_place = King Ranch, Texas, US | education = | alma_mater = St. Edward's University | occupation = Conservationist, rancher | organization = | known_for = The father of wildlife conservation in Texas | political_party = Democratic | father = Rudolph Kleberg | family = Kleberg | awards = }} '''Caesar Kleberg''' (September 20, 1873 – April 19, 1946) was an American conservationist and rancher. A member of the Kleberg family, he operated part of King Ranch and helped modernize its production methods.
== Biography == Kleberg was born on September 20, 1873, in Cuero, Texas, to Rudolph and Mathilda Kleberg (née Eckhart). He studied at St. Edward's University, and following his graduation, moved to Washington, D.C. and worked as his father's secretary.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Association |first=Texas State Historical |title=Caesar Kleberg: Pioneer of Wildlife Conservation and Ranching in Texas |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/kleberg-caesar |access-date=2025-10-11 |website=Texas State Historical Association |language=en}}</ref>
In 1900, Kleberg returned to Texas to work for King Ranch, under Henrietta King and his uncle, Robert J. Kleberg Jr.. He began in the Santa Gertrudis Division, later being transferred and becoming foreman on the Norias Division for thirty years, during which he was involved in the Raid on Norias Ranch in 1915.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bandit Raid on the Norias Division of the King Ranch – 1915 |url=http://www.taliesyn.com/ralph/raid_on_norias.htm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315064356/http://www.taliesyn.com/ralph/raid_on_norias.htm |archivedate=15 March 2016 |url-status=dead |accessdate=7 November 2016 }}</ref> At King Ranch, he helped modernize its production and breeding. He helped develop the communities in King Ranch: he cofounded Kingsville and the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway.<ref name=":0" /> He also was the one to purchase Old Sorrel for King Ranch, having first seen him in 1915.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Denhardt |first=Robert Moorman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GcSmMI1ttIoC&dq=Caesar+Kleberg&pg=PA83 |title=Quarter Horses: A Story of Two Centuries |date=1967 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-2285-4 |pages=83 |language=en}}</ref> He lived in a two-story home on King Ranch,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cavazos |first=Lauro F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_f4ljyQXO7sC&dq=Caesar+Kleberg&pg=PA9 |title=A Kineño Remembers: From the King Ranch to the White House |date=2008-02-19 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=978-1-60344-044-8 |pages=10 |language=en}}</ref> which lacked electricity and plumbing and had its bathtub on the porch.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hutton |first=Paul Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4zwC7ErC-74C&dq=Caesar+Kleberg&pg=PA162 |title=Western Heritage: A Selection of Wrangler Award-Winning Articles |date=2013-04-17 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-8971-0 |pages=162 |language=en}}</ref>
A conservationist, Kleberg and Robert J. Kleberg Jr. were members of the Texas Animal Health Commission, and helped eradicate babesiosis from the state. He helped restore the northern bobwhite, turkey, and white-tailed deer in Texas, as well as introducing the nilgai to the state in 1924, its first appearance in the Western Hemisphere.<ref name=":0" />
== Later life and legacy == A Democrat, Kleberg served as a delegate in five of its national conventions. He was a Freemason. He never married. He died on April 19, 1946, aged 72, in the Santa Gertrudis Division of King Ranch.<ref name=":0" /> In his will, he put his funds toward the establishment of the Caesar Kleberg Foundation for Wildlife Conservation.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fulbright |first1=Timothy E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IfZCEQAAQBAJ&dq=Caesar+Kleberg&pg=PT8 |title=Wildlife Science: Linking Ecological Theory and Management Applications |last2=Hewitt |first2=David G. |date=2007-06-20 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-040-16839-4 |language=en}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=October 2025}}
In 1981, Texas A&M University–Kingsville established the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, which researches livestock and plant diseases.<ref name=":0" /> Since 2008, The Wildlife Society has awarded the Caesar Kleberg Award for Excellence in Applied Wildlife Research to "those who have distinguished themselves in applied wildlife research".<ref>{{cite web|title=Caesar Kleberg Award for Excellence in Applied Wildlife Research |url=http://www.wildlife.org/who-we-are/awards/caesar-kleberg |work=The Wildlife Society |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826120125/http://www.wildlife.org/who-we-are/awards/caesar-kleberg |archivedate=26 August 2014 |url-status=dead |accessdate=7 November 2016 }}</ref> In 2009, Kleberg was acknowledged as "the father of wildlife conservation in Texas" by the Texas Legislature.<ref>{{cite web|author=Eileen Mattei|date=May 2010|title=King of conservation: Caesar Kleberg|url=http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2010/may/legend/|work=Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.|accessdate=7 November 2016}}</ref> In 2017, ''Caesar Kleberg and The King Ranch'' by Duane M. Leach, a biography on Kleberg, was published.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Flores |first=Manuel |date=10 June 2017 |title=Texana Reads: Caesar Kleberg and The King Ranch |url=https://www.caller.com/story/life/columnists/2017/06/11/texana-reads-caesar-kleberg-and-king-ranch/385847001/ |access-date=2025-10-11 |website=Corpus Christi Caller-Times |language=en-US}}</ref>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kleberg, Caesar}} Category:American conservationists Category:1873 births Category:1946 deaths Category:St. Edward's University alumni Category:Texas Democrats Category:People from Cuero, Texas Caesar Category:Ranchers from Texas Category:American Freemasons