Tom Slick

For other uses, see Tom Slick (disambiguation).

Thomas Baker Slick Jr. (May 6, 1916 – October 6, 1962) was a San Antonio, Texas-based inventor, businessman, adventurer, and heir to an oil business. Slick's father, Thomas Baker Slick Sr., a.k.a. "The King of the Wildcatters", had made a fortune during the Oklahoma oil boom of the 1910s.^[1][2] He was notable for discovering Oklahoma's then-largest oil field, the Cushing Oil Field.^[1]

Career

During the 1950s, Slick was an adventurer. He turned his attention to expeditions to investigate the Loch Ness Monster, the Yeti,^[3] Bigfoot^[2] and the Trinity Alps giant salamander.^{[citation needed]} Slick's interest in cryptozoology was little known until the 1989 publication of the biography Tom Slick and the Search for Yeti, by Loren Coleman.^{[citation needed]} Coleman continued his study of Slick in 2002 with Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology.^{[citation needed]} That book mentions many of Slick's adventures, in politics, art, science, and cryptozoology, including his involvement with the CIA and Howard Hughes.^{[citation needed]}

Slick was a friend of many celebrities, including Hughes and fellow flier Jimmy Stewart.^{[citation needed]} Stewart, for example, assisted a Slick-backed expedition in smuggling a piece of the Pangboche Yeti hand back to England for scientific analysis, Loren Coleman was to discover from Slick's files and confirmation from Stewart before his death.^{[citation needed]}

Slick founded several research organizations, beginning with the forerunner of the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in 1941.^[2] His most well-known legacy is the non-profit Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), which he founded in 1947 to seek revolutionary advancements in technology.^[2][4] SwRI continues to advance pure and applied science in a variety of fields from lubricant and motor fuel formulation to solar physics and planetary science.^{[citation needed]} He also founded the Mind Science Foundation in San Antonio in 1958 to do consciousness research.^[2]

Tom assisted his brother, Earl F. Slick, in founding Slick Airways, one of the first US scheduled freight airlines.^[2][5][6]

In 1953 Trinity University awarded him an honorary doctor of science.^[2]

In 1955 he was awarded a patent for the lift slab method of constructing concrete buildings.^[2][7]

He was an advocate of world peace.^[2] In 1958 he published the book, Permanent Peace: A Check and Balance Plan.^[2] He funded the Tom Slick World Peace lectures at the LBJ Library, and the Tom Slick Professorship of World Peace at the University of Texas.^{[citation needed]}

Nicolas Cage was to have portrayed Slick in a movie, Tom Slick: Monster Hunter, but the project stalled.^[8]

Art collection

Slick was an avid collector of modern art. His collection was surveyed by the McNay Art Museum with an exhibition and catalogue titled Tom Slick: International Art Collector.^{[citation needed]}

Death

On October 6, 1962, Slick was returning from a Canadian hunting trip when his airplane crashed in Montana.^[2][9] Reportedly, the aircraft disintegrated in flight.^[9] A wing broke off in violent wind shear over the mountains.^[9] He was buried in Mission Burial Park, San Antonio.^[2]