THE WOODLANDS, TX-Houston media outlets report that energy mogul, billionaire and commercial real estate developer George Mitchell died. He was 94.

Mitchell was best known as the "father of fracking." Fracking is the process commonly used to retrieve natural gas from shales around the United States. Mitchell was also responsible for conceiving of, and developing, The Woodlands, a 28,000-acre bedroom community in the far north Houston area. The Woodlands was one of the nation's first master-planned communities. It was also home to Mitchell Energy & Development. The energy company was acquired in 2002 by Devon Energy Corp. for $3.5 billion. Mitchell sold The Woodlands in 1997 to a partnership between Crescent Real Estate Equities and Morgan Stanley. Howard Hughes Corp. acquired the master-planned community some years later, completing the buying process in 2011.

Mitchell and wife Cynthia were also involved in revitalization efforts on Galveston Island, where Mitchell was born. The family revitalized the historic Blum building, turning it into the Tremont House. They also bought and restored the historic beachfront Galvez Hotel, then added the San Luis Hotel to Galveston's seawall in the mid-1980s.