Thomas Baker Slick Jr. (May 6, 1916 – October 6, 1962) was a

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

, 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. He was notable for discovering Oklahoma's then-largest oil field, the

Cushing Oil Field The Cushing Oil Field, also known as the Cushing-Drumright Oil Field, is an oil field in northeastern Oklahoma, part of the Mid-Continent oil province. The by field includes southeastern Payne County, northwestern Creek County, and northeas ...

Career

During the 1950s, Slick was an adventurer. He turned his attention to expeditions to investigate the

Loch Ness Monster The Loch Ness Monster ( gd, Uilebheist Loch Nis), affectionately known as Nessie, is a creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or mor ...

, the

Yeti The Yeti ()"Yeti"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. is an ape-like creature purported t ...

Bigfoot Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is a purported ape-like creature said to inhabit the forest of North America. Many dubious articles have been offered in attempts to prove the existence of Bigfoot, including anecdotal claims o ...

and the Trinity Alps giant salamander. Slick's interest in

cryptozoology Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness ...

was little known until the 1989 publication of the biography ''Tom Slick and the Search for Yeti'', by

Loren Coleman Loren Coleman (born July 12, 1947) is an American cryptozoologist who has written over 40 books on a number of topics, including the pseudoscience and subculture of cryptozoology. Early life Coleman was born in Norfolk, Virginia, and grew up in ...

. Coleman continued his study of Slick in 2002 with ''Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology''. That book mentions many of Slick's adventures, in politics, art, science, and

, including his involvement with the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

and

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

. Slick was a friend of many celebrities, including Hughes and fellow flier

Jimmy Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...

. 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. Slick founded several research organizations, beginning with the forerunner of the

Texas Biomedical Research Institute Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed), located in San Antonio, Texas, is an independent, non-profit biomedical research institution, specializing in genetics and in virology and immunology. Texas Biomed is funded by government and cor ...

in 1941. His most well-known legacy is the non-profit

Southwest Research Institute Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is an independent and nonprofit applied research and development (R&D) organization. Founded in 1947 by oil businessman Tom Slick, it provides contract research and develop ...

(SwRI), which he founded in 1947 to seek revolutionary advancements in technology. SwRI continues to advance pure and applied science in a variety of fields from

lubricant A lubricant (sometimes shortened to lube) is a substance that helps to reduce friction between surfaces in mutual contact, which ultimately reduces the heat generated when the surfaces move. It may also have the function of transmitting forces, t ...

and motor

fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but ...

formulation to

solar physics Solar physics is the branch of astrophysics that specializes in the study of the Sun. It deals with detailed measurements that are possible only for our closest star. It intersects with many disciplines of pure physics, astrophysics, and compu ...

and

planetary science Planetary science (or more rarely, planetology) is the scientific study of planets (including Earth), celestial bodies (such as moons, asteroids, comets) and planetary systems (in particular those of the Solar System) and the processes of their f ...

. He also founded the

Mind Science Foundation The Mind Science Foundation (MSF) is a private non-profit scientific foundation in San Antonio, Texas, USA, established by the philanthropist Thomas Baker Slick in 1958. The Foundation's mission is to raise awareness and levels of funding for one ...

in San Antonio in 1958 to do consciousness research. In 1955 he was awarded a patent for the

lift slab Lift slab construction (also called the Youtz-Slick Method) is a method of constructing concrete buildings by casting the floor or roof slab on top of the previous slab and then raising (jacking) the slab up with hydraulic jacks. This method of con ...

method of constructing concrete buildings. He was an advocate of

world peace World peace, or peace on Earth, is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Planet Earth. Different cultures, religions, philosophies, and organizations have varying concepts on how such a state would ...

. In 1958 he published the book, ''Permanent Peace: A Check and Balance Plan''. He funded the Tom Slick World Peace lectures at the

LBJ Library The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, also known as the LBJ Presidential Library, is the presidential library and museum of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th president of the United States (1963–1969). It is located on the grounds of t ...

, and the Tom Slick Professorship of World Peace at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gu ...

was to have portrayed Slick in a movie, ''Tom Slick: Monster Hunter'', but the project stalled.

Art collection

Slick was an avid collector of modern art. His collection was surveyed by the

McNay Art Museum The McNay Art Museum, founded in 1954 in San Antonio, is the first modern art museum in the U.S. state of Texas. The museum was created by Marion Koogler McNay's original bequest of most of her fortune, her important art collection and her 24-roo ...

with an exhibition and catalogue titled ''Tom Slick: International Art Collector''.

Death

On October 6, 1962, Slick was returning from a Canadian hunting trip when his airplane crashed in Montana. Reportedly, the aircraft disintegrated in flight. A wing broke off in violent wind shear over the mountains. "Texas Oil Magnate Dies In Air Crash", ''Miami News'', October 5, 1962, p1

References

Sources

Biographies

"Slick, Thomas Baker Jr."
Texas State Historical Association *

, ''Tom Slick and the Search for Yeti'', Faber & Faber, 1989, *Loren Coleman, ''Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology'', Fresno, California: Linden Press, 2002, *Catherine Nixon Cooke, ''Tom Slick, Mystery Hunter'', Paraview, Inc., 2005, (author is Slick's niece and former director of the Mind Science Foundation)

External links

*
Mind Science Foundation biography
at the

Tom Slick and peace

Patents

*, ''Mill for Cutting Feathers'', filed May 1945, issued May 1949 *, ''Brush Puller'', filed August 1947, issued December 1950 *, ''Apparatus for erecting a building'', ( lift-slab construction), filed July 1948, issued August 1955 {{DEFAULTSORT:Slick, Tom 1916 births 1962 deaths Accidental deaths in Montana Cryptozoologists People from San Antonio Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Yale University alumni Harvard University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1962 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States