William Cameron (Bill) Blanks, 92, passed away peacefully on May 20, 2016, in Denton, TX. Bill was a successful entrepreneur and oilman who had a strong work ethic, a larger-than-life personality and a mischievous sense of humor. He always loved an adventure – a hunting trip or travel to an exotic destination. And while he enjoyed the places he went and the things he did, he especially enjoyed meeting new people and hearing their stories. And he could tell a story or two, himself.

Bill was born on October 14, 1923, in Greensburg, PA. He graduated high school from The Principia boarding school in St. Louis, MO, in 1941, and entered Purdue University that fall. In the summer of 1943, Bill suspended his college education and joined the U. S. Navy to fight in World War II. After officer training at Williams College and midshipman school at Columbia University, he received his commission as an ensign and was assigned as Gunnery Officer and Assistant Navigator to the U.S.S. Tucson, an anti-aircraft cruiser in the Pacific. After the war, he served briefly as Executive Office of LST 801 until he was discharged in March of 1946. Bill received a Bachelor of Arts degree in geology from Williams College in 1949 and then pursued a master's degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Southern California. In 1952 he moved to Texas, where he took a job as Chief Geologist with W.E. Butler in Abilene. He spent the next 50 years discovering oil in West Texas and beyond.

In 1955 he moved to Midland, where he met and married Violette Amis in 1959. They had three children together and lived in Midland until Violette's death in 1999. Beginning in the late 1960s, Bill founded or co-founded several businesses in Midland that would define his career in the oil business through the 1980s: The Sterling Company, The Evolution Corporation, Smith & Stovall Drilling Corp., Dave Reynolds, Inc., and, most notably, Blanks Energy Corporation. In the early 1980s, Bill developed the Blanks Building, a 12-story office building in downtown Midland, on the northeast corner of Big Spring St. and Wall St. His success in business allowed Bill the opportunity to pursue his great passion for travel and hunting. He especially loved when the two could be combined – bird hunting trips to Denmark or a safari in Zimbabwe. Violette shared Bill's passion for travel and together they saw the world, from the pyramids of Egypt to the Great Wall of China, and everything between. Bill was also quick to invent a business excuse for travel abroad, flying off to places like Russia, Australia, South America and Africa to evaluate oil deals. By Bill's own count, he visited almost 160 countries in his life. Bill shared the last 16 years of his life with his loving companion Joan Sherwood. In addition to Joan, Bill is also survived by his step-daughter Kay Ellis, his daughter Christine Lemieux (Patrick), his son William Blanks Jr, his son Maurice Blanks (Sally), eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. The family is planning a memorial service to celebrate Bill's life later this summer. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to be made in Bill's honor to MARC of Midland, TX (www.marctexas.org).