Oil and Gas Magnate T. Boone Pickens Has Died

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Self-made oil and gas billionaire T. Boone Pickens has died, according to multiple reports. Pickens, who founded Mesa Petroleum and BP Capital, was 91 at the time of his death. 

Pickens made a name for himself as a businessman and a philanthropist, and was often quoted that his purpose on earth was “to make money and give it away.” All told, Pickens donated about $1 billion to charity in his lifetime, much of that going to his alma mater, Oklahoma State University.

However, the small-town boy from Holdenville, Oklahoma, left several marks on the Texas real estate market, including his incredible Wilson Fuqua-designed Preston Hollow mansion at 9434 Alva Court, which was sold by Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate’s Ryan Streiff.

Pickens spent a large amount of his fortune on his Mesa Vista ranch, which was the location of his wedding to his fifth wife, Toni Chapman Brinker. He put the ranch on the market in December of 2017 for $250 million, a paltry sum it seems for a property he developed for nearly half a century. The ranch, which started as a 2,900 acre tract, totals almost 65,000 acres and is located outside of Pampas, Texas.

His decision to sell the ranch was part of his estate planning, though the ranch is still on the market.

“Selling the ranch is the prudent thing for an 89-year-old man to do,” said Pickens in a statement prepared for Mesa Vista’s marketing materials. “It’s time to get my life and affairs in order. There are many reasons why the time is right to sell the ranch now, not the least of them ensuring what I truly believe is one of the most magnificent properties in the world winds up with an individual or entity that shares my conservation beliefs.”

According to the T. Boone Pickens Foundation, the businessman is survived by “his five children — Deborah Pickens Stovall, Pam Pickens Grace, Michael Pickens, Tom Pickens and Liz Pickens Cordia— and 11 grandchildren and an increasing number of great-grandchildren.”

Pickens’ full obituary can be read on his foundation’s website.