Lee Raymond, former Exxon CEO who denied climate change, dies at 87, WSJ reports

Former Exxon CEO Lee Raymond, an executive who led one of the country’s biggest oil and gas corporations for more than a decade, died Saturday at age 87, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Raymond’s family confirmed he died in Dallas, according to the report. The former oil executive led negotiations to merge Exxon and Mobil in 1999 to form Exxon Mobil Corp., which is now headquartered in Spring, north of Houston.

Raymond, who is from South Dakota, began working for Exxon in 1963. He became a director in 1984 then took on the role of president in 1987.

He later led Exxon Mobil after its merger until the end of 2005. When he retired in January 2006, the company reported it had made $36 billion in profit.

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Raymond was also known for being an outspoken skeptic of global warming. In the 1990s, he claimed that the scientific evidence for climate change was “inconclusive” and that “the case for global warming is far from air tight.” In 2002, Exxon ran advertisements in the New York Times calling climate science “unsettled.”

He later became a key target of the #ExxonKnew movement, which highlighted how the corporation ignored the impact of carbon dioxide on global warming. Searches of Exxon Mobil’s archives showed company leaders knew of the risks and downplayed them, the Chronicle reported previously.

Politicians from states across the U.S. requested and launched investigations into the company about whether it was downplaying the risks of climate change for its business and misleading shareholders.

Exxon Mobil has denied wrongdoing, calling its statements freedom of speech and investigations as politically motivated, as reported by the Chronicle. But internal documents obtained by investigative journalists showed that scientists working for the company in the 1970s and 1980s were among the first to recognize global warming and that carbon dioxide was a major contributor.

“Lee was a remarkable leader who transformed not just Exxon Mobil, but the global energy landscape,” an Exxon Mobil spokesperson said in a statement. “He navigated our company through the historic 1999 merger, enhancing our ability to meet global demand and support society’s needs. His legacy will forever remain a pillar of this company.”

Rachel Nostrant contributed reporting.

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This article originally published at Lee Raymond, former Exxon CEO who denied climate change, dies at 87, WSJ reports.