Oil Tycoon, Oklahoma State Superfan T. Boone Pickens Dies at Age 91

T. Boone Pickens, the oil tycoon and corporate raider who the Oklahoma State football stadium is named for, died Wednesday at the age of 91. 

The T. Boone Pickens Foundation announced the Oklahoma State booster and alumnus' passing, which was due to natural causes.

Pickens donated $165 million to the Oklahoma State athletic program in 2006.

Per an Oklahoma State press release, the money was targeted to "help build the west end zone at Boone Pickens Stadium, a multi-purpose indoor practice complex, new soccer, track and tennis facilities, a new equestrian center, a new baseball stadium and new outdoor practice fields."

Pickens donated over $1 billion during his lifetime. Per Chris Blake, Frank Heinz and Meredith Land of NBC DFW, more than half of that went to Oklahoma State.

He was a big Oklahoma State sports fan. He had attended most Cowboys home games since 2003 (when the stadium was renamed in his honor) and occasionally provided public comments about the team's play, according to Bill Haisten of Tulsa World.

The entrepreneur's fortune was amassed in part by founding Mesa Petroleum, which became "one of the largest independent oil and gas companies in the United States" per Marty Steinberg of CNBC.com.

Steinberg also outlined his corporate raider days.

"During the early 1980s, Pickens took his corporate raider talents to new levels, investing in chunks of undervalued oil companies, trying to take them over and making big profits even if the buyout failed," Steinberg wrote.

Pickens' lasting legacy also includes founding the Pickens Plan in 2008, which Blake, Heinz and Land described as "a self-funded, $100 million grassroots campaign that would work to end the U.S. dependency on oil from OPEC."

Pickens is survived by five children, 11 grandchildren and "an increasing number of great-grandchildren," per the foundation website.