Matthew Simmons, energy investment banker, offshore wind energy advocate, dies in Maine at 67

Simmons, energy investment banker, dies in Maine

ROCKLAND, Maine — Matthew Simmons, an investment banker who began his career serving the oil industry and later became an advocate for offshore wind energy, has died in Maine. He was 67.

Simmons founded Texas-based Simmons & Company International, which grew into one of the largest investment banking companies serving the energy industry. He retired last month to devote his energies to The Ocean Energy Institute, a think tank and venture capital fund he founded in Rockland, Maine.

Investigators said his body was found Sunday night in his hot tub. An autopsy Monday determined he died from accidental drowning with heart disease as a contributing factor.

Simmons wrote the book, “Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy.”