Lee Raymond, Who Created Global Oil Behemoth Exxon Mobil, Dies at 87

Lee R.Raymond, who as chief executive of Exxon Mobil wrung out costs to make that global oil company the most profitable in its industry while stoutly resisting the scientific consensus that burning fossil fuels was causing a potentially disastrous warming of the Earth, died on Saturday in Dallas.

He was 87.His death, at a hospital, was confirmed by his son Colin, who said the cause was complications of pneumonia.

Mr.Raymond’s agreement in 1998 to acquire Mobil — a transaction valued at about $81 billion, then the largest corporate merger ever — created the world’s biggest private-sector oil company in terms of annual sales, operating in 200 countries.

The deal reunited the two biggest parts of John D.Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust, sundered in 1911 by federal trust busters in an effort to spur competition.During his reign as chief executive, from 1993 to 2005, Mr.

Raymond relentlessly cut costs, including eliminating a third of the executive jobs after the merger, and helped boost net income to $36.13 billion from $4.8 billion.The company’s market value increased fourfold to $375 billion.Mr.

Raymond shunned publicity.There was no discernible effort to make him seem endearing or personable to the general public or even to his own employees.

He was known for making withering remarks in response to questions from employees or investment analysts.“What you’re hearing today may seem boring,” he said at an analyst meeting in March 2005.“You’ll just have to live with outstanding, consistent financial and operating performance.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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