Courtesy of Bounty Minerals
Jon Brumley remained executive chairman of Bounty Minerals until his death.
Business leaders, public servants, longtime friends, and four generations of family gathered in First United Methodist Church in downtown Fort Worth on Tuesday to bid farewell to Jon Brumley, the pioneering entrepreneurial giant and civic leader whose influence shaped Texas business, education, and community life for more than half a century. Brumley died July 3. He was 86.
The service, filled with laughter, memories, and tears, reflected a life of purpose and curiosity.
In a eulogy delivered by close friend Billy Rosenthal, Brumley was remembered for the quality he considered most essential: attitude. Rosenthal read a favorite reflection Brumley often passed out to colleagues and friends, a piece by Charles Swindoll that emphasized that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond.
We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude.
Brumley, Rosenthal said, believed attitude could make or break a company, a church, or a home.
“Just remember Jon,” Rosenthal said. “He led with his heart. He loved every morning, and he always wanted more and better for each of us — whether it was family, business, or community.”
Brumley’s professional legacy left a deep, lasting imprint on the oil and gas industry. He helped launch and lead a series of successful companies, including Cross Timbers Oil Company — later XTO Energy — with Steve Palko and Bob Simpson, and Encore Acquisition Company, which he co-founded with his son Jonny. The two were named Forbes Entrepreneurs of the Year in 2005.
Brumley set a record for public listings by any individual on the New York Stock Exchange.
"It is hard to imagine how lucky I feel to have gotten to build a company like Encore with my dad," said Jonny Brumley in his father’s obituary. "I got to learn from the best."
But Brumley’s influence went far beyond business. In the early 1980s, he was tapped to chair a citizen commission to address the failures of school desegregation and busing in Fort Worth. He approached the task, family, friends, and stakeholders said, not with ideology but with humility, riding buses with concerned parents and ultimately delivering a set of reforms that won praise from across the political and racial spectrum. A federal judge called it the finest citizen commission ever brought before his court.
Later, as chairman of the Texas State Board of Education — appointed by Texas Gov. Mark White — Brumley implemented statewide academic reforms, including the controversial but lasting “no pass, no play” rule. It was in that role he met Rebecca Dawson Canning, the board’s vice chair and, later, his wife. They married after their terms ended.
Together, the Brumleys built Red Oak Ranch in East Texas, a place of family reunions, wildflower picnics, and camp-style weekends for grandkids. They also established the Red Oak Foundation, which has given away nearly 900,000 books to support early childhood literacy in Fort Worth.
“He was never too busy for us,” said his daughter, Carla Brown. “We always felt we were the most important thing in his life.”
Born in Pampa in 1939, Ira Jon Brumley was the youngest of three sons born to Raymond and Florence Brumley. He graduated from the University of Texas and later earned an MBA from the Wharton School.
Rosenthal recalled Brumley’s love for UT and that during his first two years there “he loved it a little bit too much.” When applying for admission to Wharton, Brumley only submitted transcripts from his junior and senior years, Rosenthal said. The dean told Brumley he needed to see the transcripts from all four years at Texas.
“I’m never going to get into this school,” Brumley said, according to Rosenthal.
Brumley quite proudly proclaimed, according to his family, that he entered Wharton with the lowest undergraduate grades of anyone in his class, but he graduated in two years with the highest scores on his comprehensive exams.
Early in his career, he led Southland Royalty through a successful defense against a hostile takeover bid by T. Boone Pickens. Years later, Pickens, along with Richard Rainwater, invited Brumley to lead Mesa Petroleum, where he would help orchestrate a merger that created Pioneer Natural Resources.
In 2012, well into his 70s, Brumley founded Bounty Minerals to develop natural gas resources in Appalachia. He remained executive chairman until his death.
“He built tough teams,” Jonny Brumley said in Brumley’s obituary. “And to make a tough team, you have to love your people. He did.”