Texan oil tycoon who fell foul of Gaddafi dies at 88
Nelson Bunker Hunt, the Texas oilman once considered the world's richest man before his fortunes were undone by Muammar Gaddafi and his own epic overreaching in the silver market, has died at age 88.
Nelson Bunker Hunt
1926-2014
Nelson Bunker Hunt, the Texas oilman once considered the world's richest man before his fortunes were undone by Muammar Gaddafi and his own epic overreaching in the silver market, has died at age 88.
reported that Hunt died at an assisted-living centre in Dallas suffering from dementia and cancer.
Hunt, born in El Dorado, Arkansas, on February 22, 1926, was one of seven children in the "first family" of H.L. Hunt, one of the pioneers of the first Texas oil boom, who also had relationships with two women who gave him eight other children.
At his peak, Hunt owned cattle, hundreds of race horses, ranches, real estate, sugar companies, banks, valuable art and the Shakey's Pizza restaurant chain, in addition to the family's vast oil holdings. He had a reputation for buying many assets based on a hunch, rather than research.
His father got rich in Texas but Hunt went abroad to make his mark in the oil business in the 1950s. He found little or no success in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia but then tried Libya, where he scored big.
Hunt eventually controlled 3.2 million hectares in a Libyan field estimated to have been three times the size of the East Texas field that gave birth to the Texas oil boom.
He was said to be worth between US$8 billion and US$16 billion, and was considered to be the richest man in the world.
Then Muammar Gaddafi came along. He overthrew Libya's king in 1969, and by 1973 had nationalised Hunt Oil's Libyan operations.
After the losses in Libya, Bunker wanted something safe, as he feared a worldwide financial collapse. His solution was silver.
Hunt and his wife, Caroline, with whom he had four children, lived their later years in a relatively modest house in Dallas.
