George Phydias Mitchell

George P. Mitchell was born in Galveston to Greek immigrants.

In 1940, George graduated first in his class in Petroleum Engineering and Geology at Texas A&M University and began work at Amoco. During World War II, he served in the Army Corps of Engineers. George and Cynthia Woods were married in 1943 and had 10 children.

In 1947, he bought an interest in an oil exploration business in Houston. By 1953, the outfit leased over 300,000 acres in “The Wildcatters’ Grave,” an area north of Fort Worth. By 1964, Mitchell & Mitchell owned over 1,000 producing wells.

By far the biggest discovery of Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. came in the late 90s. The discovery was a technique developed to economically extract natural gas from shale rock. Mitchell Energy merged with Devon Energy in 2002.

Born: 21 May 1919 Galveston, TX

Died: 26 July 2013

Texas A&M University Petrochemical Engineering & Geology 1940