Aubrey McClendon

Aubrey Kerr McClendon (July 14, 1959 – March 2, 2016) was an American businessman primarily engaged in natural gas exploration. He was the co-founder, CEO and chairman of Chesapeake Energy (now Expand 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. He was an outspoken advocate for natural gas as an alternative to oil and coal fuels, and a pioneer in employing hydraulic fracturing.

McClendon owned 19% of Professional Basketball Club, which owns the Oklahoma City Thunder and was instrumental in the Seattle SuperSonics relocation to Oklahoma City in 2008.

On March 1, 2016, 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". He died the following day in a single-vehicle collision.

Early life and education

McClendon was born July 14, 1959, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the son of Carole Kerr and Joe Connor McClendon. He was the great-nephew of Robert S. Kerr, a governor of Oklahoma and U.S. senator from the state and a co-founder of Kerr-McGee.

McClendon spent his childhood in Belle Isle, a neighborhood in Oklahoma City and attended Belle Isle Elementary School, a public school. He graduated from Heritage Hall School in 1977, where he was senior class president and co-valedictorian. As a teenager, McClendon started a lawn mowing business.

McClendon graduated from Duke in 1981 with a B.A. in history. His favorite area of study was the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era. McClendon minored in accounting and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He also met his wife, Kathleen Upton Byrns, while at Duke.