Henry Groppe, Jr.

Mr. Henry Groppe, born in the town of West, Texas on March 23, 1926, friend and mentor to many, died on March 26, 2024 a young  98 in Houston.

Graveside Service will be held 2:00 p.m. Saturday, April 6, 2024 at Closner Cemetery near West, with Chaplain Sarah Miller officiating. Military Graveside Rites will be conducted by the West Veterans Honor Guard. The family will receive visitors from noon until service time Saturday at Aderhold Funeral Home.

Henry was born March 23, 1926 in West, the son of Ernest and Anna (Heitmiller) Groppe. He was a graduate of West High School. On June 3, 1961 he was united in marriage to Carol Tarrant in Houston. Carol preceded him in death on July 20, 2019.

Professionally, Henry is best known as a partner and founder in 1955 of Groppe, Long & Littell, a Houston-based consulting firm providing long-term guidance for corporate, government and private energy industry clients internationally recognized for its accurate forecasts of major changes in oil and natural gas supply, consumption and price. But throughout his extensive circle of friends and colleagues, Henry is best known for his deep wisdom, his progressive spirit, and his zeal to change the world.

After a stint in the United States Navy deployed in 1943, Henry went to the University of Texas and obtained a degree in Chemical Engineering. Then, began Henry’s legendry career in energy, celebrated in the Midland-based Permian Basin Petroleum Museum with a special exhibit.

Henry served in technical, economics and management positions with Dow Chemical, Monsanto, Texaco and Arabian American Oil Company (in Saudi Arabia). After founding his firm, he went on to become a founder of Southwest Chemical and Plastics, Inc., Space Industries International Inc., Unibar Energy Services and Research Applications Inc. , founder and chairman of oil and gas energy producing companies Metfuel Inc. and Antara Resources and a founder of the Mitchell Group, an energy equities asset management company. He has served as a director of Transco Energy Company, Tom Brown Inc., and First Energy Finance Company. He was a charter member of the Texas Governors Energy Advisory Council, a director of the United States Energy Association and founder and chairman of the Washington DC-based Petrochemical Group.

Not only was Henry a successful businessman, he and his wife Carol, were committed to making the world a better place, and Henry had a long and storied involvement in the non-profit community. He was a Board Chairman of the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston, chairman of the world affairs discussion group of the IIE (International Institute of Education), board member of the St. Francis Day School, a director of the Mental Health Association of Greater Houston, a co-founder, and president of the Houston Council on Human Relations which led successful Houston inner city integration efforts in the 1960s. His civic interests, particularly focused on education, led him to become chairman of the University of Texas Cockrell School of Engineering Advisory Board, a founding member and vice-chairman of the UT Energy Institute Advisory Board, and a member of the Board of Overseers of Sweet Briar College.

Henry was eating tofu and brown rice long before most people had even considered the effects of diet on disease. Wanting to share his insights, Henry founded the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, which researches the effects of diet and lifestyle choices on heart disease, prostate cancer and other illnesses. “Using evidence-based methods for accurate oil and gas forecasting at Groppe Long & Little Consulting Services, I have become involved with people outside my profession who are applying the same methods to find better solutions in the fields of preventive medicine and serious behavioral health issues,” Henry said. Along these same lines, Henry also founded Southwest Health Technology Foundation, a non-profit group whose mission is to advance neurofeedback, an alternative treatment for brain-related maladies including anxiety, addiction and attention disorders, as well as enhanced performance.

A member of Emerson Unitarian Church of Houston, Henry fully lived the tenets of his faith, the inherent worth and dignity of every person; justice, equality and compassion in human relations; the acceptance of one another and the encouragement to spiritual growth; and free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

Henry wore a hat every day. He never retired. And he stayed in touch with friends around the world. It’s no accident that so many of Henry’s accomplishments involved the role of founder. Henry left the world, the way he entered it, a pace ahead of the rest of us.

Henry is also preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Ocee Keaton Groppe; and sisters, Ruby Mae Popp and Violet Park.

Survivors include his children, Hollis Crow of San Antonio, Jay Groppe and wife Kathy of Lancaster, Leslie Dean of Shreveport, LA, Hans Groppe of Houston, Anne Cushing of Chattanooga, TN, and Laura Groppe of Houston; grandchildren, Robert Crow II and wife Shannon, Alexis Crow, Caroline Groppe, Ernest Henry Groppe IV, Violet Spring, Arthur Spring, Mariah Cushing, David Alexander Cushing, Christopher Cushing, Jason Dean and wife Rachel, Rebecca Dean and husband Warren Murdoch, and Mary-Katherine Dean and partner Kendall Coleman; great grandchildren, Dean Bonham Crow, Stella-Hope Murdoch, Reville Dean, and Samuel Dean; and many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

Henry is also survived by lifelong friend and confidante, Betty Biggom; the following loving and supportive individuals who became family and deeply cared for Henry giving him the gift of a beautiful , active and celebrated last chapter, Josephine Ventura, Darlyn Yang, Jan Roca, Alfonso Rivero, Deepali Patel, and Janine Pascual; and old, dear friends Stacy Graubart and Jaime Ramirez who always show up in every time of need.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Closner Cemetery Association.