Ornate desk owned by T. Boone Pickens, bought by Fort Worth business leader, headed from Texas to Oklahoma

Pickens' table being set up on Oct. 9. 

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An ornate conference-room table where the late legendary oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens made billion-dollar deals and hosted VIPs in his Dallas office is heading to the Oklahoma Capitol.

Officials at Oklahoma State University announced Wednesday that the 24-foot-long table and 22 leather chairs will be loaned to the governor’s office for the next 10 years.

In one of his last acts, Pickens sold his conference room table and its 22 chairs to Gary and Claudia Humphreys, who in turn donated the table set to OSU. Humphreys is co-founder, executive chairman and CEO of Fort Worth-based Vista Proppants and Logistics LLC.

Pickens designed and bought the table 14 years ago. In January 2018, after suffering health setbacks, he announced that he was closing his hedge fund, BP Capital, to concentrate on his private investments. He began downsizing his offices and no longer had room for it.

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“For now, the table I have long loved has to go. Come and take it and the history that goes with it,” Pickens said then. “We put close to $75,000 into the table and 22 leather chairs that go with it. We’re starting at $25,000.” The table is a four-pedestal behemoth, measuring 24 feet long by 5 feet wide, inlaid with golden cherry and walnut wood.

Humphreys purchased the set for $30,000, according to an OSU news release..

“Thanks to the generosity of alumni Gary and Claudia Humphreys, Oklahoma State is honored to play a part in placing a historic piece from Boone Pickens’ legendary career in the Oklahoma State Capitol,” said OSU President Burns Hargis. “We are especially proud of the OSU Cowboy link between alumni Pickens, Humphreys and Gov. Kevin Stitt.”

“We are thankful for the generosity of the Humphreys family and honored to house this conference room table that is tied to the legacy of Mr. T. Boone Pickens,” Stitt said. “T. Boone Pickens is a successful entrepreneur, proud Oklahoman and generous philanthropist who has made a significant contribution through job creation and economic growth in our great state. Residing in the State Capitol, this table will be a signature piece to host Oklahoma’s thought leaders, decision makers and delegates from around the nation as they shape today’s policies and continue to make history.”

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A university donor purchased the four-pedestal desk, inlaid with golden cherry and walnut wood, and donated it to OSU.

Oklahoma’s new Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt is an OSU graduate and had inquired about the desk after visiting with Pickens, who died last month at age 91.

The governor’s office currently is being renovated as part of a $245 million project to overhaul the state Capitol. – additional reporting by FWBP Staff