Houston energy tycoon Dan Duncan dies at 77; billionaire co-founded energy services company

Houston energy tycoon Dan Duncan dead at 77

HOUSTON — Billionaire energy tycoon Dan Duncan, who founded one of the largest energy services companies in the U.S., died at his Houston home Sunday, his company said. He was 77.

Duncan was chairman of the company that manages Enterprise Products Partners LP, a midstream energy giant with more than 48,000 miles of natural gas, petrochemical and crude oil pipelines and 25 natural gas processing plants. The company focuses its services in the processing, storage and transportation sectors within the oil and gas industry.

“The entire Enterprise family mourns the unexpected passing of Dan Duncan who will be truly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family,” said Michael A. Creel, Enterprise president and CEO.

The company’s statement did not say how Duncan died, and a company spokesman did not immediately return a telephone call Monday.

The company said it did not plan to change ownership or management of the partnerships that make up Enterprise Products.

Duncan co-founded Enterprise Products Company in 1968 and took Enterprise Products Partners public in July 1998.

This year, he ranked 74th on Forbes’ worldwide list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of $9 billion. He was Houston’s wealthiest resident, according to the list.

He was an avid hunter, and in 2002, his passion got him some unwanted attention after he illegally shot moose and sheep from a helicopter during a Russian hunting trip. Russian law generally forbids hunting while airborne.

Duncan told a grand jury he didn’t know the hunting trip was illegal, and he and the other hunters on the trip were not charged.

His hunting guide was tried and acquitted in Houston federal court of importing antlers and horns from game that had been illegally hunted in Russia.

A philanthropist, Duncan gave a $100 million donation in 2006 to the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

He was born in Shelby County, located in East Texas along the border with Louisiana. His mother died of tuberculosis and his older brother, his only sibling, died of tetanus when Duncan was a child. His father died of leukemia when Duncan was 17.

He is survived by his wife, four children and four grandchildren.