James Moffett, co-founder of mining giant Freeport-McMoRan, dies at 82 Ryan Randazzo and Russ Wiles, Arizona Republic
James Moffett, a geologist and former college football player who discovered one of the world s largest gold and copper mines and developed one of Arizona s biggest companies, died Jan. 8 of COVID-19 complications at age 82.
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The Louisiana-born oil and metals explorer burst onto Arizona s business scene when his company, Freeport-McMoRan, acquired copper miner Phelps Dodge in 2007 for $26 billion and agreed to keep the corporate headquarters in downtown Phoenix. Moffett served as both CEO and chairman and was, for years, one of the highest-paid executives in Arizona, though he had a more prominent civic and philanthropic profile in Louisiana and Texas.
Moffett co-founded the internationally-known Fortune 500 exploration company and headquartered it in New Orleans, where he became a major business leader.