DALLAS -- E.E. 'Buddy' Fogelson, the oilfield wildcatter and horseman who captured the heart of Academy Award-winning actress Greer Garson, died Tuesday of Parkinsonism at the age of 87.
Garson was at her husband's bedside at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas when he died at 3 p.m., a spokeswoman for the family said.
Fogelson's funeral was scheduled at 2 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3, at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, where Garson and Fogelson maintained a home in addition to their sprawling ranch, Forked Lightning, near Pecos, N.M.
Fogelson served as a member of General Dwight D. Eisenhower's staff during World War II, the era Garson helped immortalize in her role as 'Mrs. Miniver,' a story of the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk. That performance won her an Academy Award in 1942.
President Charles de Gaulle awarded Fogelson the Croix de Guerre avec Palme, and the president of Finland honored him with the highest rank of Knighthood, Suurmestari, in the prestigious Order of the White Rose, for his wartime work. President Harry Truman appointed him to the Allied Commission on Reparations.
He and the Irish-born Garson -- an MGM luminary whose roles included a sensitive portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt in 'Sunrise at Campobello' and the understanding wife of a professor in 'Goodbye, Mr. Chips' - married in 1949.
In addition to Garson, 79, Fogelson is survived by a son, a sister, a niece and two nephews.
He was born Feb. 16, 1900, in College Park, Neb., and left the University of Nebraska before graduating for the lure of the new Texas oilfields, where the young wildcatter made a fortune.
He later earned degrees from Texas Christian University and the School of Military Government at the University of Virginia.
He was a member of the Boilermakers Union, the Magician's Circle of America and the Cowboy Hall of Fame.
He was a director emeritus of Hollywood Park and the Turf Club in California, and bred and raced thoroughbreds.
Among winners produced by his stable was ACK ACK, who won the Eclipse Award several times and was named Horse of the Year in 1971.
Besides fine horses, Fogelson's chief interests lay in the fields of education and a constant search for oil and gas, aimed at making the United States independent of foreign suppliers.
In addition, he and his wife were avid environmentalists, giving lands and funding to the Department of the Interior to make sure ancient Indian and Spanish ruins on their Forked Lightning ranch were protected. In 1966, the site was designated a National Historical Monument.
The Department of the Interior awarded Fogelson and Garson its highest possible award, a citation for almost 40 years of work to preserve and restore the environment.
