Charles Duncan Jr. Cause of Death

Charles W. Duncan Jr., the Energy Secretary during the oil crisis, passed away at the age of 96 on Tuesday, October 18, 2022.

According to his son, Charles W. Duncan III, the cause was complications from a recent fall.

Charles W. Duncan Jr. began his career in the energy industry as a young Texas roustabout digging pipeline ditches in 1947 and rose to become President Jimmy Carter’s secretary of energy at the height of America’s oil shortage in 1979.

Mr Duncan was the heir of a wealthy coffee family from Houston. He made Duncan Coffee a competitor to Maxwell House before it was purchased by the Coca-Cola Company.

He became the president of Coca-Cola and met Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter in Atlanta. Duncan served on the Board of Governors of Rice University on numerous occasions throughout his career.

He was chairman of Rice’s board of directors from 1982 to 1996. He twice led the search for a university president, advocated for international student recruitment, and helped found the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, a nonpartisan think tank.

Charles Duncan Jr. is survived by his two sons and his wife Anne Smith Duncan.