1938-2021: UT donor, oil magnate Jim Bob Moffett has died

Wildcatter, philanthropist and environmental provocateur Jim Bob Moffett has died, University of Texas officials have confirmed. He died Friday in Austin of complications from COVID-19. He was 82. "Jim Bob was a Texas legend. He was very instrumental in the success of our athletic department,” Chris Del Conte, UT’s athletic director, told the American-Statesman on Saturday. “He was one of the original wildcats. Just a legendary Texas oilman. He was bigger than life. He'll be sorely missed."

Moffett's son, Bubba, told Nola.com on Saturday that his father had been ill for several years before he contracted COVID-19. Moffett played tackle for legendary UT football coach Darrell Royal, studied geology and went on to become a major donor, only to later threaten to sue three professors. The former mining executive and multimillion-dollar UT donor's plans for a huge development upstream of Barton Springs galvanized the city's environmental movement in the early 1990s and birthed a more aggressive breed of activist. The drilling company he co-founded was part of one of the largest mergers in Wall Street history. It became one of the world's biggest miners of gold and copper while drawing scorn in Austin and elsewhere for alleged ties to human rights abuses in Indonesia.