Bright Realty CEO Chris Bright Has Died at 70

• Chris Bright oversaw Bright Realty and Bright Industries, a company founded by his father more than 60 years ago. 

Chris Bright, CEO of Bright Realty and Bright Industries, died on July 11 in Plano at the age of 70. 

Bright oversaw Bright Realty, as well as its parent company, Bright Industries, as CEO. He led the daily activities of Bright Industries, which was founded in the 1950s by his father, the late former Dallas Cowboys owner H.R. “Bum” Bright.

Bright graduated from Highland Park High School in 1971 and later the University of Dallas in 1978. He began his career with STM Mortgage Company, where he supervised STM’s real estate construction lending operations, and commercial loan placement and underwriting.

He was active in several Dallas charitable and civic organizations, including A Weekend to Wipe Out Cancer, Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas, and the McKinney Avenue Trolley Association. He was formerly on the Board of Directors for The University of Dallas.

While Bright’s accomplishments span decades, he was instrumental in the creation of the Castle Hills community. The land for the development was first purchased by H.R. “Bum” Bright in 1952 as a family farm. 

Bum’s sons, Chris and Clay, began planning Castle Hills in 1982. The first families moved into the community in 1998. 

Today, Castle Hills has more than 4,500 single-family homes, more than 2,000 apartments and townhomes, a condominium development, and a rental home community as well as hundreds of thousands of square feet of office, retail, and entertainment space.

Bright also has a long history of philanthropy in Dallas. It was announced earlier this year that Bright Industries donated $7.5 million to Children’s Health, one of the largest and most prestigious pediatric health care providers in the country and the leading pediatric health care system in North Texas, to help provide ongoing care for children in both Plano and the Dallas area. 

Children’s Health noted that Bright’s donation was the largest philanthropic gift in the Plano hospital’s history and one of the largest donations made in Collin County. In recognition of this generous donation, Children’s Health named the new emergency department at Children’s Medical Center Plano with the Bright name.

Bright, born Oct. 21, 2952, is survived by his wife Camille and children Zach, fiancée Savannah and grandson Christopher, and Katie, husband Billy, and grandchildren River and Kirra.