In Memoriam: Jay Precourt (1937-2024)

Legendary oil and gas wildcatter Jay Anthony Precourt died on Sept. 16, 2024, in Vail, Colorado. He was 87.

Growing up in Chicago, Precourt developed a romantic notion of becoming an oil and gas wildcatter. It was a vision he “never doubted,” he told Hart Energy in 2014.

Precourt earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in petroleum engineering from Stanford University, and his MBA from Harvard University. While a student, he spent summers working in the oil industry: at refineries, a petroleum research lab, in marketing, on or around drilling rigs and at Standard Oil in New York. These experiences helped him understand the business from the wellhead to the trading floor.

During his career, Precourt founded five energy companies, including a New York Stock Exchange company that sold for 21 times the initial investment after only 12 years, and another for 24 times the investment after only five years, according to the Colorado Business Hall of Fame, which inducted him in 2023.
 
He also served on the boards of several top public companies, including Hamilton Oil, Timken Co., Apache Corp., Baroid Industrial Drilling Products, Dresser Industries, Halliburton and Tejas Gas, as well as several large private industrial corporations and nonprofits. 

In addition to his business and economic endeavors, Precourt was a prolific community contributor and philanthropist. He served on Vail Health Hospital’s board of directors; as president of Eagle Valley Land Trust; and on the boards of Denver Art Museum Foundation, Children’s Hospital Colorado, Historic Denver foundation and Alley Theater in Houston

Precourt’s most lasting legacy may be in education. He founded the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford in 2009. It was integrated into Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability when the program opened in 2022.

Precourt stepped down from the co-chairman role on the institute’s advisory council in May.

“When it comes to the Precourt Institute, there’s really only one father, and that’s Jay Precourt,” Arun Majumdar, dean of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and a former director of the institute, said. “Jay has always been there to provide us with support. He cares about our success, and cheers for us when we achieve it.”