Godspeed, T. Boone Pickens

“Larger than life” perfectly described T. Boone Pickens, the wildly successful energy entrepreneur whose time on this earth, alas, came to an end at ninety-one yesterday.

I had the privilege of being befriended by Boone in recent years. Many hours of conversation with him indelibly imparted an inspiring sense of his legendary can-do spirit, his profound patriotism, his free-range mind and his wry – and not infrequently irascible – sense of humor.

Boone Pickens gave back generously to the nation and institutions he loved.  He tirelessly supported politicians like Ronald Reagan, who shared his love for America, and decisively opposed like John Kerry, who did not.

Perhaps Boone will be most remembered for the outsized contribution he made to U.S. energy security, helping transform our dangerous dependency on often unreliable suppliers to a posture of net exporter to the world.

Godspeed, T. Boone Pickens.