Aubrey Kerr McClendon (July 14, 1959 – March 2, 2016) was an American businessman and the founder and chief executive officer of American Energy Partners, LP. He also co-founded Chesapeake Energy, serving as its CEO and chairman. He was an outspoken advocate for natural gas as an alternative to oil and coal fuels, and a pioneer in employing fracking. McClendon was a part-owner of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Oklahoma City Thunder franchise, and was part of the ownership group that moved the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City in 2008. On March 1, 2016, McClendon was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring "to rig bids for the purchase of oil and natural gas leases in northwest Oklahoma". He died the following day, March 2, 2016, in a single-vehicle collision. Early life and education McClendon was born July 14, 1959, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the son of Carole Kerr and Joe Connor McClendon. He was the great-nephew of Robert S. Kerr, a governor of Oklahoma and U.S. senator from the state. McClendon spent his childhood in Belle Isle, a neighborhood in Oklahoma City and attended Belle Isle Elementary School, a public school. He graduated from Heritage Hall School in 1977 as senior class president and co-valedictorian. As a teenager, McClendon started a lawn mowing business, through which he had an early encounter with Shannon Self, who later became a founding board member of Chesapeake Energy Corporation. McClendon graduated from Duke in 1981 with a B.A. in history. His favorite area of study was the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era. McClendon minored in accounting and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He also met his wife, the former Kathleen Upton Byrns, while at Duke. McClendon's first job after Duke was as an accountant. He was inspired to move from accounting to the energy business after reading an article in The Wall Street Journal about two men selling their Anadarko Basin well stake for $100 million. McClendon worked as a landman at Jaytex Oil and Gas, a public company in Oklahoma City founded by his uncle, Aubrey M. Kerr, Jr. McClendon left Jaytex in November 1982 to pursue his own business in the oil and natural gas industry. Business career Chesapeake Energy Corporation In 1983, McClendon and Tom L. Ward "threw in together" in their initial venture into oil and natural gas. Together, they co-founded Chesapeake Energy Corporation