college station a new documentary celebrating the life of visionary texas businessman and global energy pioneer george p mitchell a 1940 distinguished petroleum engineering graduate of texas a&m university and all-time most generous donor in texas a&m history is set to make its public television debut next month roughly a week after the one-year anniversary of his death george p mitchell: a difference maker will air at 1 pm sunday august 3 on houston public media channel 8 / kuht tv 8 the broadcast of the 30-minute biography written and produced by rick christie president of studio w inc in houston is sponsored by texas a&m enervest ltd and joe b foster 56 former founder and chief executive officer of newfield exploration co mitchells is a true rags-to-riches success story: a billionaire entrepreneur who overcame poverty to graduate first in his class at texas a&m serve his country during world war ii as an officer in the army corps of engineers build a fortune 500 oil and gas company create a master-planned new town in the woodlands and transform both his hometown of galveston and his alma maters physics and astronomy program with his philanthropic efforts somewhere in the overall plot development he also near-singlehandedly ushered in a worldwide energy revolution in 2010 texas a&m university press published the book george mitchell and the idea of sustainability written by his close friend and colleague jurgen schmandt the quasi-biographical work looks at mitchells life and career primarily through the lens of his engagement with the idea of sustainability dvd cover for the documentary george p mitchell: a difference maker set to air at 1 pm sunday august 3 on houston public media channel 8 / kuht tv 8 (credit: studio w inc) george mitchell by almost anyones account is an important man said christie a six-time emmy award winner his name is well known in many circles for many reasons his is a story that deserves to be shared and shared broadly as an added bonus christies version of the story about the man known as the father of fracking and honored in 2013 as both a history-making texan and houstonian of the century is one told primarily in mitchells own words as preserved in more than 100 video interviews recently unearthed by christie who worked for mitchell during the time that most of them were filmed christie brings a unique viewpoint to an already compelling story of a self-made man he describes the documentary as a labor of love a creative melding of mitchells narratives with select segments featuring state and national vips experts and opinion leaders including daniel yergin noted energy economist and pulitzer prize-winning author george mitchell more than anyone else is responsible for the most important energy innovation of the 21st century yergin asserts in one notable clip its because of george that we can talk seriously about ‘energy independence texas a&m university system chancellor john sharp texas a&m dean of science h joseph newton and texas a&m professor of physics and astronomy peter m mcintyre are among those paying tribute to mitchell in the documentary along with foster texas governor rick perry and former mitchell energy & development corp geologist dan steward mitchells granddaughter katherine lorenz president of the cynthia and george mitchell foundation and linda bomke who retired in december as vice president after serving 42 years at mitchell energy & development corp and the mitchell family corporation also appear in the production in 2013 forbes magazine estimated mitchells net worth as $2 billion placing him among the 500 richest people in the world at the time of his death on july 26 2013 mitchell had pledged the majority of that wealth toward philanthropic initiatives including more than $95 million in donations to texas a&m from his namesake george p and cynthia woods mitchell institute for fundamental physics and astronomy to the 135 acres for texas a&m university at galvestons main campus in addition he committed $3325 million to the giant magellan telescope including a lead gift of $125 million in 2004 that established texas a&m as a founding partner in the next-generation ground-based wonder likewise his mitchell foundation continues to champion a grant program that supports a variety of scientific and sustainability issues including environmental protection social equity and economic vibrancy history will remember george mitchell for his technological achievement in oil and gas extraction that put the united states and much of the world on a direct path to energy independence christie said however students of history will revere george and his resilient spirit dogged perseverance and uncanny ability to connect dots so often invisible to others in an effort to anticipate where the world would could or should be whether present or future thats a powerful takeaway for us all learn more about mitchell and his visionary life watch a trailer for the documentary on youtube: -atm- contact: shana k hutchins (979) 862-1237 or shutchins@sciencetamuedu or carrie woliver (713) 961-2797 or carwol@aolcom the post must-see tv: george p mitchell documentary set to debut august 3 on houston pbs appeared first on texas a&m college of science