Hugh Liedtke

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Person.png Hugh Liedtke  Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(lawyer, Businessman)
J. Hugh Liedtke.png
BornFebruary 10, 1922
Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.
DiedMarch 28, 2003 (Age 81)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Alma materAmherst College, Harvard Business School, University of Texas School of Law
SpouseBetty Lyn Dirickson
Founder ofZapata Petroleum
Hugh and his brother Bill co-founded the Zapata Corporation in 1953 together with George H. W. Bush

Hugh Liedtke was brother of Bill Liedtke. Hugh and his brother Bill co-founded the Zapata Corporation in 1953 together with George H. W. Bush[1].

Career

Hugh and his brother Bill co-founded the Zapata Corporation in 1953 together with George H. W. Bush and University of Texas contemporary John Overbey.[2] This was nominally a profit-making enterprise but actually worked as a cover for intelligence agency operations, providing an explanation for a lot of foreign travel and a vehicle for transfer of money.[3]

Pennzoil

In the 1960s the Liedtke brothers acquired control of the South Penn Oil Company and merged it with Zapata to form a new company they called Pennzoil.[4] They acquired the United Gas Pipeline Company, which was nearly eight times the size of Pennzoil and along with several other companies and merged them into it. In 1966, the Liedtkes captured United Gas.[5]

After refusing an offer of $2 billion, in 1988 his legal team convinced a jury that Texaco had illegally usurped his handshake deal to acquire an interest in the Getty Oil Company. He was awarded $3 billion from Texaco in a legal battle.[5]

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References

  1. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-apr-05-me-liedtke5-story.html
  2. Bush, George W. (2014). 41: A Portrait of My Father. London: Ebury Publishing. pp. 61–62. ISBN 9780553447781. OCLC 883645289.
  3. Family of Secrets
  4. "J. Hugh Liedtke". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  5. a b http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/01/business/j-hugh-liedtke-81-oilman-who-bested-texaco-in-court.html