WHITE OAK, Texas — An East Texas native has earned a spot on FORBES list of the wealthiest people in the United States.
According to the financial and business magazine, White Oak high school graduate Kelcy Warren come sin at No. 227 with a worth of $4.6 billion. He is tied on the list with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Warren, chairman and CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, is also the 513th richest person in the world. The self-made billionaire co-founded the pipeline company with Texas Rangers co-owner Ray C. Davis in 1995.
In March 2017, following an executive order by former President Donald Trump, Energy Transfer Partners finished building the 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline.
When he was a teenager, Warren would spend his summers as a welding assistant and floor sweeper at the Sun Oil warehouse in East Texas. After graduating from White Oak High School, he attended Kilgore College before receiving his bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1978.
A music fan, Warren also produces albums for singer-songwriters at his music
In 2012, he also donated $10 million to the city of Dallas to build the five-acre Klyde Warren Park, which is named after his only son.
In 2019, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Warren to the University of Texas System Board of Directors with a term to expire on Feb. 1, 2025. That same year, Warren also gifted $500,000 to Kilgore College to improve the school's information technology (IT) infrastructure.