Oilman T. Boone Pickens dies at 91

Sept. 11 (UPI) --

Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens died of natural causes at the age of 91 at his home in Dallas on Wednesday, his family said.

Pickens, who earned the nickname Oracle of Oil through his work as a corporate raider, philanthropist and hedge fund founder, had a fall in 2018 and had multiple strokes prior to his death.

Pickens was born May 22, 1928, in Holdenville, Okla., where his father sold oil and mineral rights and his mother was the head of the local Office of Price Administration.

He began his career working for Phillips Petroleum and left the company after three years to drill wildcat wells. He founded Petroleum Exploration and later Altair Oil & Gas, which both later became Mesa Petroleum.

Five years after forming Mesa, he targeted Hugoton Production for a hostile takeover and invested in undervalued oil companies throughout the 1980s.

At the age of 68, Pickens sold Mesa and launched BP Capital Management, a hedge fund focused on the energy industry.

In 2008, Pickens launched the Pickens Plan a $100 million campaign aimed at ending U.S. dependency on oil for OPEC by promoting the adoption of wind, solar and natural gas.

He also donated more than $1 billion to charity throughout his life, including joining Bill Gates and Warren Buffet's The Giving Pledge initiative aimed at philanthropic spending.