John W. Nichols, co-founder and chairman emeritus of Devon Energy Corp., has died following a lengthy illness. He was 93. A native of Ardmore, Nichols began his career auditing books for Oklahoma City oil companies. In 1941, Nichols and F.G. (Blackie) Blackwood established Blackwood and Nichols Co., an oil company focused in northeast New Mexico’s San Juan Basin. A certified public accountant, Nichols registered the world’s first public oil and gas drilling fund with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He promoted his tax shelter investment program to some of the most famous and wealthy figures in Hollywood and American industry. Actresses Barbara Stanwick and Ginger Rogers invested as well as businessman Willard Rockwell Sr., of Rockwell International, the Pillsbury milling family of Minneapolis and top executives from Chrysler and General Motors. Within months, Nichols’ investment idea raised more than $1.4 million. Using the seed money, he and Blackwood went on to build one of the region’s largest oil and gas companies. Nichols founded Devon in 1971 and recruited his oldest son, Larry, to partner with him. They created the first international royalty fund to help generate the capital necessary to purchase Devon’s first assets. In 2001, Oil and Gas Investor magazine listed Nichols among the “100 Most Influential People of the Petroleum Century.” The company he founded today has that stretch from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian Arctic, and extends to China, Brazil, and Azerbaijan. As of Dec. 31, Devon had proven reserves of 2.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent and an enterprise value of about $59 billion. He was a strong supporter of First Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City and his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma. He funded scholarships, endowments and research programs, contributed to OU arts programs as well as OU’s Bizzell Memorial Library. He was active in numerous community and national organizations. He served as a director of the YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City, he was president of the Oklahoma Heritage Association and was national president of the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. He also served on the board of trustees for Casady School. He was a former president of the Economic Club of Oklahoma and the Young Men’s Dinner Club of Oklahoma City, and he was one of the 50 founders of the Oklahoma City Petroleum Club. For his contributions, Nichols was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1987.