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George Phydias Mitchell (born 1919) is an American businessman and real estate developer from Texas. He was born to Greek immigrant parents in the port city of Galveston, Texas. Mitchell earned a petroleum engineering degree from Texas A&M University with an emphasis in geology. He started an independent oil and gas company, Mitchell Energy & Development, that he sold to Devon Energy in 2001 for $3.5 billion. He was the original developer of The Woodlands, an unincorporated community in Harris and Montgomery counties, TX, which he developed from timberland located 25 miles north of downtown Houston. He brought on the esteemed landscape architect Ian McHarg to consult on the project which resulted in many unique design features in the original plans. He and his wife Cynthia have played a major role in the revitalization of his hometown of Galveston. The tennis center at Texas A&M University was named in his honor. Built for an estimated $4.2 million, the official ribbon cutting ceremony was held on October 23, 1998. In 1984, he was the recipient of an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Houston.^[1] In article discussing Mitchell's gift of US$10 million to the National Academies of Science, the organization's magazine InFocus described Michell's commitment to sustainability and the environment as follows.^[2]

An early admirer of the work of design and ecology visionary Buckminster Fuller, the young CEO Mitchell also realized that there were finite energy resources and raw materials for a world whose population was increasing rapidly. In the 1970s he helped sponsor the work of Dennis Meadows, whose Club of Rome study The Limits to Growth was a global wake-up call on the pressing need for sustainable energy technologies and food sources worldwide.

—InFocus Magazine (National Academies), Summer/Fall 2002

The Mitchells also underwrote the National Academies' Our Common Journey: A Transition Toward Sustainability ^[3], the 1999 report that redefined the role science and technology can play in sustainable development. Our Common Journey helped establish the National Academies' long-term commitment to research for global economic development that maximizes the efficient and wise use of the Earth's resources.

Through the generous donation by George P. Mitchell of $35 million, the Texas A&M University Physics department relocated to two new buildings in late 2009: The George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Fundamental Physics and Astronomy Building and the George P. Mitchell Physics Building. This donation by Mitchell and his wife, Cynthia, is the latest in a series supporting the university's scientific development and the physics department in particular. With previous gifts supporting important additions such as academic chairs, professorships and the Giant Magellan Telescope project, the Mitchells are Texas A&M's most financially supportive benefactors of the modern day, with donations now totaling $44.5 million for the physics department over the past three years.

References

External links

• Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People