Boots & Coots founder Edward Matthews dead at 86
Written on April 3, 2010
Edward M. “Coots” Matthews, co-founder of Boots & Coots Inc., passed away on March 31, the company said Thursday. He was 86 years old.
“Boots & Coots recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, and we owe a tremendous debt to Mr. Matthews for the vision he and ‘Boots’ Hanson shared when they formed this company and the culture they developed that helped the company endure the hard times as well as the good,” said Jerry Winchester, president and chief executive officer of Boots & Coots.
“We send our condolences to Mr. Matthews’ family, and our respect to a truly remarkable individual. His imprint on this industry will live forever.”
Edward Coots Matthews and Asger “Boots” Hansen founded Boots & Coots in 1978 after nearly 20 years of working for oil industry legend Red Adair. Both were involved with some of the industry’s most notorious oilfield blowouts, such as the “Devil’s Cigarette Lighter” in Gassi Touil, Algeria in 1961, Lake Maracaibo in 1991 and the Kuwaiti oil fires in 1991.
Coots Matthews retired from Boots & Coots (NYSE: WEL) in 1994.
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