50 Facts About Aubrey McClendon

Aubrey Kerr McClendon was an American businessman primarily engaged in natural gas exploration.

Aubrey McClendon was the co-founder, CEO and chairman of Chesapeake Energy, and, after being forced from the company due to a possible conflict of interest, he was the founder and chief executive officer of American Energy Partners, LP.

Aubrey McClendon was an outspoken advocate for natural gas as an alternative to oil and coal fuels, and a pioneer in employing hydraulic fracturing.

On March 1,2016, Aubrey McClendon was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring "to rig bids for the purchase of oil and natural gas leases in northwest Oklahoma".

Aubrey McClendon died the following day in a single-vehicle collision.

Aubrey McClendon was born July 14,1959, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the son of Carole Kerr and Joe Connor Aubrey McClendon.

Aubrey McClendon was the great-nephew of Robert S Kerr, a governor of Oklahoma and US senator from the state and a co-founder of Kerr-McGee.

Aubrey McClendon spent his childhood in Belle Isle, a neighborhood in Oklahoma City and attended Belle Isle Elementary School, a public school.

Aubrey McClendon graduated from Heritage Hall School in 1977, where he was senior class president and co-valedictorian.

Aubrey McClendon minored in accounting and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

Aubrey McClendon met his wife, Kathleen Upton Byrns, while at Duke.

Aubrey McClendon left Jaytex in November 1982 to start his own oil business.

Aubrey McClendon lived above the office space they leased and, after the oil bust in the late 1980s, moved to New York for 6 months to contemplate switching careers.

Aubrey McClendon began as chairman and chief executive officer of Chesapeake, while Ward served as president and chief financial officer.

Aubrey McClendon began drilling its first two oil wells in Garvin County, Oklahoma, in May 1989.

Aubrey McClendon focused on drilling wells into unconventional reservoirs such as fractured carbonate rock and shales and was an early adopter of directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques, which helped accelerate the company's fast early growth.

Aubrey McClendon's focus on these new and unconventional techniques later led to him being called a "visionary leader" in the oil and natural gas industry.

Aubrey McClendon relinquished his chairman title in June 2012, remaining in his role as CEO.

Aubrey McClendon resigned from his position as CEO at Chesapeake on April 1,2013.

In February 2015, Chesapeake filed a lawsuit against Aubrey McClendon, accusing him of misappropriating company data on available land during his departure, using trade secrets at Chesapeake for American Energy Partners, LP, a new company that he founded.

On March 1,2016, a federal grand jury indicted Aubrey McClendon for violating antitrust laws, with conspiring to suppress prices paid for oil and natural gas leases by allegedly rigging the bidding process.

Aubrey McClendon held a stake in various food service companies and restaurants, including Jamba Juice.

Aubrey McClendon opened Pops, a burgers and soda restaurant on the historic Route 66 highway in Arcadia, Oklahoma, in 2007.

Aubrey McClendon had previously secured a half-interest on the land in 2004.

Aubrey McClendon continued with the land purchase, and in 2007, began discussions with township officials on reducing the restrictions.

In 2009, Aubrey McClendon sold 171 acres of the land to the Western Michigan Land Conservancy.

In December 2010, Aubrey McClendon filed a federal lawsuit attempting to overturn the zoning laws and a settlement was reached in 2012 which voided Saugatuck's 2006 rezoning.

From 2008 to 2013, Aubrey McClendon was one of the US's largest landowners, owning more than 100,000 acres.

Aubrey McClendon was a part of the team that moved the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City in 2008, where they were renamed the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Aubrey McClendon made sizable donations to and served on the board of directors for many municipal and private organizations in Oklahoma City, including the Boathouse District and Boathouse Foundation, The Aubrey McClendon Family Boys and Girls Club of OKC, the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, Oklahoma State Fair and Oklahoma City Public Schools.

Aubrey McClendon donated to Oklahoma City arts organizations, including the Lyric Theatre, Oklahoma City Ballet, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Arts Council of Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma Heritage Foundation and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.

From 2011 on, Aubrey McClendon hosted an annual event for local Boy Scouts of America at his Arcadia Farm property.

Aubrey McClendon was inducted into the Oklahoma Heritage Foundation's Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2007, and in 2009, he was a top finalist for CEO of the Year at the Platts Global Energy Awards.

In 2013, the Heritage Hall School Alumni Association named Aubrey McClendon, who graduated in 1977, the recipient of its Distinguished Alumni Award.

In 2004, then CEO Aubrey McClendon contributed $450,000 to the campaign of Tom Corbett for attorney general of Pennsylvania.

In 2008, then CEO Aubrey McClendon formed American Clean Skies Foundation, a non-profit foundation focused on selling the virtues of natural gas.

Aubrey McClendon was a founding member of America's Natural Gas Alliance, a trade association and lobbying group for independent natural gas producers, based in Washington, DC He was an advocate for the greater use of natural gas in the United States and he funded a campaign in 2007 to draw clean-energy activists' attention to a Texas utility's plan to build 11 new coal plants.

Aubrey McClendon made a donation to the Sierra Club to fund its "Beyond Coal" campaign, which had blocked more than 150 new coal plants in the United States, as of October 2013.

Aubrey McClendon defended the natural gas and oil industry's use of hydraulic fracturing techniques for well completion, claiming it could reduce the impact of OPEC, create jobs for Americans, and reduce costs.

Aubrey McClendon lived in Oklahoma City with his wife, Kathleen Upton Byrns.

Aubrey McClendon's wife is a cousin of Sports Illustrated supermodel Kate Upton and is related to Louis Upton, the founder of Whirlpool Corporation.

Aubrey McClendon had a personal wine collection that he estimated at one time to include more than the equivalent of 100,000 bottles.

Aubrey McClendon sold much of the collection when he needed cash and after it appreciated; the remainder was sold after his death.

Aubrey McClendon held an extensive collection of antique maps of Oklahoma and collected vintage motor boats.

Aubrey McClendon was the main investor in Magnises, a credit card-based venture of convicted fraudster Billy McFarland, co-founder of the Fyre Festival, later described as a scam.

Aubrey McClendon was regarded as an optimistic person, with an appetite for risk beyond most people's comfort level, by several people who knew him well.

The medical examiner's office reported Aubrey McClendon died from multiple blunt force trauma.

On March 3,2016, less than 48 hours after Aubrey McClendon was charged, the Justice Department filed motions and dismissed Aubrey McClendon's indictment.

On June 8,2016, the Oklahoma medical examiner officially ruled the crash which killed Aubrey McClendon was an accident.

Aubrey McClendon was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash but this was not unusual for McClendon.