HoustonCityBook, an independently and locally published, 18-month-old local magazine, has scored a coup, of sorts.
Launching a new annual feature about the city’s luminaries, editor-in-chief Jeff Gremillion faced a daunting task: naming the cover celeb for his inaugural “BBVA Compass Presents Leaders & Legends” portrait series.
“It had to be Lynn Wyatt,” says Gremillion of the society icon. “Lynn all the way. Not just because she’s beautiful and glamorous, but also because, at 82, she represents the concept of a ‘legend’ so clearly and powerfully.”
Though she’s been a star of Houston’s society pages for decades, Wyatt doesn’t often grace magazine covers. Gremillion says he coaxed Houston’s legendary philanthropist through mutual friends, plus he and Wyatt enjoy a longstanding friendship.
The CityBook portrait series, which photographer Steven Visneau shot over three days last month at Uptown Park’s Hotel Granduca, pairs two prominent figures — a leader and a legend — in a variety of fields, including philanthropy, which finds legend Wyatt paired with leader Phoebe Tudor, who’s currently championing renovations of the Astrodome.
The collection also includes oncology pioneers Jim Allison and Padmanee Sharma of MD Anderson; Lauren Anderson, one of the nation's first African American principal ballerinas, and current Houston Ballet star Connor Walsh; restaurateurs Ben Berg and Tony Vallone; development exec Jonathan Brinsden andRockets owner Tilman Fertitta, whose Post Oak Hotel has just opened; beauty business titans Janet Gurwitch and Tiffany Masterson; and architectural visionary Gerald Hines; and Patricia Oliver, the dean of the Gerald Hines school at UH.
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CultureMap and Houston CityBook are partnering to bring you the hottest news in Houston. The April issue of Houston CityBook is currently on newsstands.
Houston's reigning society queen was recently honored by Houston CityBook magazine.
