Baine Perkins Kerr (August 24, 1919 – May 20, 2008)Obituary: Former Pennzoil president Baine Kerr
/ref> was a prominent

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

lawyer who was a partner in the law firm of Baker and Botts, where he managed the corporate law department, before he joined

Pennzoil Pennzoil is an American motor oil brand currently owned by Shell plc. The former Pennzoil Company had been established in 1913 in Pennsylvania, being active in business as an independent firm until it was acquired by Shell in 2002, becoming a bra ...

Career

Kerr was president of Pennzoil and on the board of directors from 1964 to 1994. He served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and graduated from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. He married Mildred C. Kerr in 1942, with whom he would raise four children, Baine P. Kerr, Jr., John Caldwell Kerr, James Robinson Kerr, and Mary Kerr. In the 1980s he served on the "Energy Engineering Board" of the National Research Council. In 1989 he was paid a $10 million bonus for his work on a lawsuit for Pennzoil that resulted in a $3 billion settlement from

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Independ ...

Friendship with George Bush

Kerr and his family were longtime friends of

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

and his wife, Barbara, whom they used to live down the street from. According to an article by Walter Pincus and

Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for ''The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the honorific title of associate editor though the Post no longer employs ...

in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' entitled ''Doing Well with Help from Family, Friends,'' (August 11, 1988) when Bush was running against

Lloyd Bentsen Lloyd Millard Bentsen Jr. (February 11, 1921 – May 23, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 69th United States secretary of the treasury under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1994. He served as a United States senator from ...

for senator in 1970, Kerr advised Bush on a proposed business deal involving a loan request from a man named Victor Flaherty, who needed money to buy Fidelity Printing Company. Kerr recommended that Bush make the loan, but that he also demand some stock in Fidelity Printing as part of the deal. When Fidelity Printing was sold, Bush cashed in his stock for $99,600 in profit, a gain of 1,900 percent on his original investment. When Bush became president he named his presidential yacht "Fidelity" because of this business deal.

References

1919 births 2008 deaths Texas lawyers United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II University of Texas at Austin alumni People associated with Baker Botts 20th-century American lawyers {{US-law-bio-stub