Former oilman noted for blistering interoffice memos dies at 85

By Ed Koch, Special to the Sun

Monday, Sept. 19, 2016 | 12:58 p.m.

The 1970s memos from multimillionaire oil baron Edward Mike Davis to his employees have been described as bizarre, aggressive and — if you have a certain sense of humor — quite hilarious after they made their way to the internet.

“Do not speak to me when you see me,” Davis, then-owner of Houston-based Tiger Oil, wrote in one of the memos. “If I want to...speak to you, I will do so. I want to save my throat.”

Davis, a longtime oil speculator and companion of singer Phyllis McGuire of the McGuire Sisters, died Sunday in Las Vegas, spokesman Marcelo Anevcua said. He was 85.

The cause of death was complications from prostate cancer that Davis had battled for at least 10 years, Anevcua said.

Davis, known as Tiger Mike, requested there be no services for him, Anevcua said.

“There was no one else like him; there was only one Tiger Mike,” said Anevcua, an employee of Davis for the past 18 years. “Things had to be done his way all of the time. That’s just the way he was. And he spoke the way he felt.”

Davis, whose oil company went bankrupt in 1980, long ranked among the most colorful characters in Las Vegas.

Davis wheeled and dealed in oil speculation ventures and once convinced billionaire Kirk Kerkorian to allocate $684 million to buy Denver-based Delta Petroleum Co.

Davis received $5 million to $6 million of stock from the sellers of Delta as a finder’s fee for bringing Kerkorian to the table. But the company went bankrupt a short time later, costing Kerkorian 99 percent of his investment.

Believing he had been deceived in the deal, Kerkorian in 2011 sued his longtime friend — litigation that was heralded as “Tiger Mike vs. The Lion of Las Vegas.” The lawsuit was settled in May 2012.

At age 28, Davis married one-time Denver Post owner Helen Bonfils, then 69, after serving for a while as her chauffer. Their highly publicized divorce resulted in Davis getting a healthy settlement that enabled him to launch his foray into the oil business.

Davis’ acerbic memos — communications that would make today’s human resources directors cringe — brought him international, albeit unwanted, attention.

Some of the crotchety memos from Davis to his employees:

• “Idle conversation and gossip in this office among employees will result in immediate termination ... DO YOUR JOB AND KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!”

• “I do not want any fabricated expense accounts, drinking or carousing around on my money. Telephone calls for business purposes only will be accepted — not personal ... This will apply to whoever the hell it may concern who works for me.”

• “In (the) future, if people cannot carry their coffee without spilling it on my rugs, we will do away with the coffee pots entirely just as we did away with the food.”

Davis was born March 1, 1931, but little is known of his early life. He told Anevcua he was born on an American Indian reservation, but Davis wasn’t sure where.

Davis was a high school dropout who was described in one Denver Post news story as “pugnacious and profane.” His residency in Las Vegas dates to the 1960s.

Davis and McGuire, a fellow longtime Las Vegan, were often seen together at charity events and dining at posh Las Vegas restaurants.

In June, the Sun reported Davis was brokering the sale of McGuire’s 26,000-square-foot mansion, “The Beverly Hills of Las Vegas,” in affluent Rancho Circle.

A list of Davis’ survivors was not immediately available.