OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Energy industry titan Aubrey McClendon and music legend Leon Russell are among the notable Oklahomans who died in 2016.
McClendon, the founder of Chesapeake Energy, died March 2 when his sport utility vehicle crashed into a concrete bridge in Oklahoma City and burst into flames. He was 56.
McClendon left Chesapeake in 2013 amid philosophical differences with a new board of directors and founded American Energy Partners, where he was chairman and CEO. He died a day after being indicted for allegedly conspiring to rig bids, a charge he denied.
McClendon, who was also part-owner of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, was renowned for his aggression and skill in acquiring oil and gas drilling rights. As drillers learned to unlock natural gas from shale formations over the last decade, McClendon pushed the company to acquire enormous tracts of land in several states.
Fellow energy magnate and Oklahoma native T. Boone Pickens described McClendon as a “major player in leading the stunning energy renaissance in America.”
“He was charismatic and a true American entrepreneur,” Pickens said.
Russell, who was born in Lawton and grew up in Tulsa, died in November at his home in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 74. He was a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and received an Award for Music Excellence from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Singer Cat Stevens wrote that Russell was “a great influence and songwriter.” Charlie Daniels said Russell “left a lot of great music behind.”
Russell recorded hit songs like “Tight Rope,” and John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison played on his first album, “Leon Russell.” He also released an album with Elton John.
Russell produced and played on recording sessions for Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, Ike and Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones and many others.
Also among those who died in 2016 was former Gov. David Hall, 85, who served one term as a Democratic governor, from 1971-75, and was indicted on federal racketeering and extortion charges three days after leaving office. He was convicted of bribery and extortion and served 19 months in prison, but he maintained his innocence and wrote a book about his experience.
Jon Hansen, the assistant Oklahoma City fire chief who served as the spokesman for the department following the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, died at age 65.
E. Melvin Porter, Oklahoma’s first black state senator and a civil rights leader, died at age 86. Retired Judge Charles Owens, the first black person appointed as a judge in Oklahoma, also died at age 86.
Among those who died were Oklahoma County District Judge Donald Deason, 63, and former Oklahoma Attorney General Larry Derryberry, 77, who also served in the state House of Representatives.
The business world saw the deaths of oilman Llewellyn “Lew” Ward, who founded Ward Petroleum Corporation in Enid, and Bill Bartmann, of Tulsa, who founded Commercial Financial Services and became a billionaire in the 1990s before the company collapsed. Bartmann was 68.
The entertainment industry lost Ida “B’’ Blackburn, 87, who hosted “Romper Room” on KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City from the late 1950s until the mid-1970s. Rickey Smith, an “American Idol” finalist was killed in an automobile crash in Oklahoma City. He was 36.
John Yates, a longtime radio and newspaper reporter in southeastern Oklahoma and a member and past president of the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, died in December at age 52.
Joe Marquette, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who covered the Olympics, Super Bowls and the White House, died at his home in Tulsa at age 79.
In sports, Claude Arnold, the quarterback of the University of Oklahoma’s first national championship team in 1950, died at age 92. Donnie Duncan, a former OU assistant football coach and later OU athletic director, passed away at age 75.
Automobile accidents claimed the lives of former OU All-American James “Jimbo” Elrod, 62, and of Dennis Byrd, 50, who played for the University of Tulsa and the New York Jets and became an inspiration after regaining the ability to walk despite suffering a broken neck and brief paralysis in an NFL game.
Former Oklahoma State and Indianapolis Colts kicker Cary Blanchard died at age 47, and former Oklahoma punter Michael Winchester, 52, was shot and killed while leaving work at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City.
University of Tulsa Hall of Fame basketball player Steve Harris died at age 52, and Brooks Thompson, a former Oklahoma State basketball player and assistant coach, died in June at age 45.
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