Josue “Joe” Robles Jr., who served nearly three decades in the U.S. Army, rising to two-star general before taking USAA’s top job, died Thursday, the company said. He was 78.
Robles oversaw the largest period of growth in USAA history by opening eligibility to all who served honorably in the military and their family members. His focus on innovation during his tenure made the company a pioneer in mobile banking technology, including the first to offer check deposits via mobile phone.
“With nearly three decades of service in the military, which included multiple deployments and several honors, Joe knew what it meant to serve,” USAA President and CEO Wayne Peacock wrote in an email announcing his death to employees Thursday afternoon. “Joe’s experience as a Soldier gave him unique insight into the needs of the military community and their families.”
Robles, who was soft-spoken, was beloved by many employees for his low-key management style and gentle humor. He announced his retirement to a packed USAA auditorium that now bears his name and that “will serve as a reminder of his selfless service to our country and the impact he had on USAA and so many of us as individuals,” Peacock wrote.
“It’s rare that people like their CEO, but they like Joe,” said Eileen Collins, a retired NASA astronaut and Air Force colonel who served on USAA’s board from 2008 to 2022.
No cause of death was given, but in 2019, Robles revealed that he suffered from Parkinson’s disease, an incurable neurodegenerative disorder. According to a San Antonio Express-News article at the time, Robles told a gathering at Warm Springs Rehabilitation Hospital in San Antonio that he had not been diagnosed until he retired, but that he suspected he had the disease for several years.
He went public with his diagnosis to help others, he said at the time.
“Joe touched a lot of lives and accomplished a lot,” former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros said Friday. “He is so representative of American history,” from working with his father in brick making “to commanding one of the most distinguished divisions in the United States Army as a general, and then becoming CEO of one of the most respected companies in the United States. I doubt there’s another country on Earth where that could happen.”
Robles “was not only a great military man, who organized USAA, he also had a great love for the community,” said retired Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, who recalled that Robles’ predecessor had spoken out against Wolff’s efforts to pass a bond that would fund improvements to the San Antonio River, the former AT&T Center, amateur sports parks and the creation of what would become the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.
“And then when Robles came along, he backed the project, put up $50,000 and we passed the four major shows,” Wolff said. “So I was very grateful that he came along.”
Mayor Ron Nirenberg posted on X Thursday that Robles “earned the trust and reverence of those who knew him because he was a force for progress in everything he did.” “From business to veterans affairs to education, he exemplified a life of selfless service, answering the local and national call time and time again.”
After several overseas tours and a stint as commanding general of the 1st Infantry Regiment, also known as the “Big Red One,” Robles was eventually promoted to major general and appointed Army budget director.
He began serving on USAA’s board of directors while on active duty and began his career there in 1994 after retiring as a special assistant to the president. Robles later became the banking and insurance giant’s chief financial officer and controller, then served as corporate treasurer and chief administrative officer before becoming CEO in 2007. He retired in 2015.
Humble beginnings
Robles was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, in 1946, the eldest of nine children whose parents had only a fourth and fifth grade education. His family moved to Ohio when Robles was young so his father could work in a steel mill, which he did for the next 35 years.
“I knew I wanted to get enough education to have a choice,” he said in a biography for the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, which honored Robles in 2011. “I worked in the mill one summer and learned very quickly what a hot, dirty, dangerous place it was. I wore asbestos overalls and shoveled slag. The word hot doesn’t describe the job. It made me want to go to school and get a good education so I wouldn’t have to work there. I always admired my father for doing that for so many years.”
After high school, he enrolled in community college and took a job at a NASA nuclear power plant, intending to become a doctor. But when he dropped out of school to go part-time, “Uncle Sam got me,” he said in a 2014 interview with Hispanic Executive.
Robles joined the Army as a private, but was placed in a program that allowed non-graduates to enter officer training school. He went on to earn an undergraduate degree in accounting from Kent State University and an MBA from Indiana State University.
During his 28-year military career, Robles held command and staff positions in Korea, Vietnam and Germany, as well as at the Pentagon.
According to the Express-News, Robles deployed the 1st Cavalry Division from what is now Fort Cavazos for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. For his service, Robles was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Legion of Merit with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Meritorious Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.
During his time at USAA and after his retirement, Robles was an active member of the community. He served on the boards of the San Antonio Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Health System and CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Early Childhood Education Municipal Development Corporation of San Antonio and the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County.
He served as chair of the Greater Bexar County Foundation’s P16Plus Board, was selected to serve on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ MyVA Advisory Board and the University of Texas’ Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Latin American Law Advisory Board. Robles was co-chair of the Pre-K 4 SA initiative and a member of Gordon Hartman’s SOAR Board of Directors, which oversees Morgan’s Wonderland.
Robles and his wife Patty had three children, Melissa, Andrew and Christopher.
Christopher, who is autistic, “changed my life,” Robles said in Horatio Alger’s biography. “He opened my eyes to people with special needs. He brings out the best in me and is a blessing in my life.”
In his email to employees Thursday, Peacock said Robles’ legacy “will continue to guide our great association as we strive to uphold the values he championed.”
Phil Hardberger, who served as San Antonio mayor during Robles’ tenure as CEO, said Robles sat on an advisory board of business leaders that he used as a sounding board.
He called Robles one of the “most humble and kind generals I’ve ever met” and said his story – “growing up poor and Hispanic, with a lot of adversity against him” – is one that many San Antonians could relate to and be proud of.
“I’m glad I knew him and I’m glad he lived and worked in San Antonio.”