Philanthropists face upheaval under Trump, says heir to fracking fortune.
08/15/2001 - George Mitchell has sold his company. This story is a profile and retrospective of his remarkable career, which includes developing The Woodlands, restoring Galveston's Strand to greatness and, building an energy company worth $3.5 billion. HOUCHRON CAPTION (08/19/2001): Oil man George Mitchell wants most to be remembered for developing The Woodlands.
10/19/1974 - (L-R) George P. Mitchell, chairman of the board, Mitchell Energy & Development Corp., hosts the opening of The Woodlands, a new town 28 miles north of Houston in Montgomery County. Joining him at the opening are US Rep Charles Wilson of Lufkin; Dr. Phillip Hoffman, University of Houston president; and Texas state senator H.J. "Doc" Blanchard of Lubbock.
03/11/1993 - (L-R) Roger L. Galatas, president and chief operating officer of The Woodlands Corp., Donald R. Andrus, Foley's chairman, Richard Welcome, executive vice president of Homart Development and George Mitchell, chairman and president of Mitchell Energy and Development look at a map of the site for The Woodlands Mall.
The first six months of the Trump administration have roiled the philanthropic community on the same scale as the COVID-19 pandemic, but funders and nonprofits are finding their feet, the heir to a Texas oil and gas fortune told me recently.
Cuts to foreign aid, scientific research, food programs and health care are forcing family foundations to strategize on how best to support the causes that are important to them, said Katherine Lorenz, the granddaughter of Cynthia and George Mitchell and the president of their philanthropic foundation.
“It’s devastating,” Lorenz told me in an interview. “I think it remains to be seen, in the medium and long term, how philanthropy will respond to this, because it is a complete catastrophic change in how it’s been done.”
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
Lorenz and I spoke as the U.S. Senate........
© Houston Chronicle
