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'''Thomas Boone Pickens, Jr.''' (b. 1928) is a successful investor. In 2008 he published the book ''The First [[Billion]] Is the Hardest: How Believing It's Still Early in the Game Can Lead to Life's Greatest Comebacks.''

'''Thomas Boone Pickens, Jr.''' (born 1928) is a successful investor. In 2008 he published the book ''The First [[Billion]] Is the Hardest: How Believing It's Still Early in the Game Can Lead to Life's Greatest Comebacks.''

Pickens has been very generous to higher education and has given over half a billion dollars.  He was chairman of the Board of [[Texas A and M University|West Texas State University]] and donated funds to endow its business school.  He led the renewal of [[Oklahoma State University]]'s athletics program. The athletics program is funded by a separate corporation called "Cowboy Athletics" which decided to upgrade OSU facilities and to construct a new athletic village on the edge of the OSU campus. Two hundred homes were taken by [[eminent domain]] and torn down to make way for the campus expansion. In 2005, Pickens donated $165 million to renovate the football stadium. Instead of spending this donation on the stadium's construction costs, OSU Athletic Director Mike Holder decided to invest the funds with [[BP Capital]] expecting to earn a 20% return.  Cowboy Athletics took out loans and sold bonds to finance the stadium and athletic village using its investment as collateral.  Although the Cowboy Athletics' investment in BP Capital grew to $400 million, it dropped in the recession to $125 million by the time that it was sold.<ref name=wsj>{{cite news|title=Boone Calls the Plays as Largess Complicates Life at Alma Mater|author=Ann Zimmerman and Leslie Scism|date=July 7, 2012|work=Wall Street Journal|page=A1}}</ref>

Pickens has been very generous to higher education and has given over half a billion dollars.  He was chairman of the Board of [[Texas A and M University|West Texas State University]] and donated funds to endow its business school.  He led the renewal of [[Oklahoma State University]]'s athletics program. The athletics program is funded by a separate corporation called "Cowboy Athletics" which decided to upgrade OSU facilities and to construct a new athletic village on the edge of the OSU campus. Two hundred homes were taken by [[eminent domain]] and torn down to make way for the campus expansion. In 2005, Pickens donated $165 million to renovate the football stadium. Instead of spending this donation on the stadium's construction costs, OSU Athletic Director Mike Holder decided to invest the funds with [[BP Capital]] expecting to earn a 20% return.  Cowboy Athletics took out loans and sold bonds to finance the stadium and athletic village using its investment as collateral.  Although the Cowboy Athletics' investment in BP Capital grew to $400 million, it dropped in the recession to $125 million by the time that it was sold.<ref name=wsj>{{cite news|title=Boone Calls the Plays as Largess Complicates Life at Alma Mater|author=Ann Zimmerman and Leslie Scism|date=July 7, 2012|work=Wall Street Journal|page=A1}}</ref>