Ellis Rudy, CDOA 1930 - 2019
gas land and title work. Eventu- ally he acquired controlling inter- est in and became President of Imperial Oil Company of Cali- fornia, a small publicly traded company started in 1899. Impe- rial Oil grew steadily through the acquisition of numerous small oil and gas companies. Active and
Ellis Rudy, a native Texan and a resident of Houston for over 73 years passed away on Tuesday, the 8th of Janu- ary 2019, at the age of 88. Ellis was born in Houston, but lived in Stafford, Texas, until permanently moving to Houston to attend San Jacinto High School. In 1947, Ellis entered the Naval Reserve and was for- tuitously selected to join a Naval “Urban Mobilization Team” during his first year at Rice University. He was “stationed” in Houston, during the entirety of the Korean War. While in college, his father started Gossett Demol- ishing Company, and Ellis spent his summers “cleaning bricks and pulling nails” at Gossett. Upon graduating from Rice in 1951 with a B.A. in accounting and eco- nomics, he was called upon to help run the family busi- ness. He quickly transformed Gossett from demolishing and moving homes, to more complex projects including the demolition of bridges, high rise buildings and chemi- cal plants. As a hobby, Ellis began buying land, minerals and oil and gas royalties. He found this to be much more interesting and challenging than the wrecking business and closed Gossett in 1972 to focus exclusively on oil and gas acquisitions. Ellis ingeniously developed a novel direct marketing approach to acquire properties through the mail. To further his understanding of the business he attended many classes and seminars pertaining to oil and
involved in the oil business until his final days, Ellis never stopped exploring his unique ideas for developing new business. The National Association of Division Order Analysts (NADOA) credits Ellis with helping to spark the organi- zation into existence, designating him as a “Founder and Charter Member,” and bestowing upon him a Lifetime Membership and multiple corporate awards. He was also a life member of HADOA and ALTA, and was a mem- ber of AAPL, NALTA, NARO, WHAPL, TAPL, TAPL, TMLA and SADOA, and was honored by most of those organizations. He became a Certified Petroleum Landman in 1981. Ellis was an enthusiastic tennis player and longtime par- ticipant in the World Oilman’s Tennis Tournament. Aided by decades of tennis lessons from Cliff at the Houston Racquet Club and regular foursomes, he proudly declared himself to be a “solid C to C+ player.”
For many years he hosted friends and business as- sociates at his hunting ranch in Madison Coun- ty, Texas. He was pas- sionate about collecting all sorts of things from architectural antiques and toys to an extensive book and postcard collection. His enthusiasm for his
beloved “Junk” was infectious and he turned many mildly interested people into avid collectors themselves. In recent years he began sharing his collections with Universities and Museums. Most importantly, Ellis saw the potential in everyone and was thrilled to help connect people just
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