Lee Raymond, former chairman and CEO Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest investor-owned oil company, died June 6 at a Dallas hospital from complications of pneumonia, according to his son, Colin Raymond.
The retired executive was 87.
Raymond was pivotal in putting D-FW at the forefront of the world’s energy stage — personally orchestrating Exxon’s corporate headquarters relocation from Manhattan to Las Colinas in 1989. The move was monumental for the region, signaling that North Texas was a global energy contender.
But Raymond’s legacy is one of both significance and controversy.
During the 1990s. Raymond served on The Dallas Morning News Board of energy experts, a standing panel of the region’s most powerful oil and gas industry influencers.
Not one to mince words, he once abruptly threatened to leave an energy panel meeting using expletive language because a question was posed to him as a “big oil executive.” Another top executive gently put his hand on Raymond’s shoulder and persuaded him to stay.
During those meetings, he also showed a softer side, expressing loyalty to his employees. He quietly and intensely listened to his peers and other industry experts, absorbing what they had to say.
His office suite was known as the “God Pod,” and some employees nicknamed him “Iron Ass,” according to Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power, a 2012 book by the journalist Steve Coll.
As for far-reaching influence, Raymond was also the mastermind behind Exxon’s merger with Mobil that created Exxon Mobil Corp., considered one of the largest and most successful industrial mergers in U.S. history.
Raymond retired in Dallas in 2005.
He was succeeded as Exxon Mobil CEO by Rex Tillerson, who adopted more inclusive policies and acknowledged that climate change wasn’t fake science. Tillerson briefly served as secretary of state from 2017 to 2018 in President Donald Trump’s first administration.
In mid-2023, ExxonMobil moved its corporate headquarters and top executives from Las Colinas to its sprawling campus in Spring, north of downtown Houston.
Raymond is survived by Charlene Hocevar, his wife of 65 years; Colin and his two triplet brothers, Rob and John Raymond; and seven grandchildren.
