Emon Mahony Jr., former AOG boss and Fort Smith community leader, has died

Emon Mahony Jr., president and chairman of Fort Smith-based Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Corp. (AOG) between 1977 to 1998, and a leading advocate in the expansion of Lake Fort Smith that doubled water availability for the Fort Smith metro, has died. He was 85.

Mahony, born May 5, 1941 in El Dorado, Ark., was president of AOG from 1977 to 1996, and was board chairman until 1998. He served on the board of what was then City National Bank in Fort Smith, and was a long-time board member and a board chairman of the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce.

He also was a long-time board member of Little Rock-based Alltel Corp. before it was sold to Verizon in 2009. He was part of the three-member transition team for Gov. Mike Beebe. Beebe on Sunday (July 19) noted that Mahony was a “good friend and great Arkansan.”

Mahony was a commissioner on the Arkansas-Oklahoma River Compact Commission, and was a senior aide from 1968 to 1975 for U.S. Sen. John McClellan, D-Ark. Mahony also was one of the first members of the U.S. Marshals Museum board of directors.

Mahony was a trustee for the Arkansas Nature Conservancy, and was appointed by Gov. David Pryor to the Arkansas Soil and Water Commission in 1978, where he served for seven years, including one as chairman. Mahony also pushed for creation of the one-eighth cent conservation sales tax for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and worked to create conservation easements to protect local ecosystems.

While in Fort Smith, Mahony was a leader in the effort to find a suitable water-supply expansion for the metro. He pushed for expansion of Lake Fort Smith and was an advocate in seeking voter approval of a one-half cent sales tax to partially fund the more than $200 million lake expansion. The work included raising the Lake Fort Smith dam 101 feet, tripling the capacity of the reservoir, and boosting the supply from 21.5 million gallons a day to 45.5 million gallons a day. The lake expansion, completed in late 2006, increased water storage from about 8.4 billion gallons to almost 28 billion gallons.

The expansion also resulted in more than $20 million in state and local funds to build a new Lake Fort Smith State Park that includes a large visitors center with meeting space, modern cabins, group facilities, a marina with boat rentals, hiking trails that include access to the 240-mile Ozark Highlands Trail, campgrounds, and fishing areas.

In an August 2011 interview for the Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History at the University of Arkansas, Mahony said Fort Smith was “the most integral part I’ve ever been of a community and the community that I’ve liked the most has been Fort Smith. I felt at home the very first day I walked in there. Crazy about the people.”

In a 2009 “Politics and progress” essay he wrote for what was then The City Wire, Mahony advised people in the Fort Smith metro to unite behind key regional infrastructure needs.

“When the local interests are united, it is so, so easy for your United States Congressman and Senators to be totally supportive of the region’s desires,” Mahony noted. “And how easy is it for the governor to support and work hard for a project when the whole region, regardless of political affiliation, is supportive? Bottom line: do any of us think political affiliation is more important than real economic progress?”

After retiring from AOG, he returned to El Dorado and managed his family’s timber, oil, and natural gas interests.

Mike Callan, president of AOG from 2008 to 2014, credited Mahony for his long career in the natural gas industry.

“I met Emon in 1984 when he hired me to work for Arkansas Oklahoma Gas,” Callan said. “He was my boss for 12 years, my mentor and friend for 42 years. One of his many traits I admired was that when we discussed any subject he had already thought about it more than anyone else involved. I will miss him.”

Fred Kirkwood, who recently retired from AOG after a 40-year career, praised Mahony for having the vision to change the culture at AOG from one of a monopoly focus to having a customer service approach. Kirkwood said in a January 2026 interview that Mahony stuck with the culture change even when it wasn’t popular.

“If it wasn’t for Emon Mahony, I probably wouldn’t have made it because that was not the culture, and they did not want that to be the culture,” he said. “It wasn’t that we didn’t have good people in the business, it was that they didn’t understand the value of it, the value of taking care of that customer.”

Ben Shipley III, an attorney with Fort Smith-based Robertson, Beasley, Shipley & Robinson, was hired by Mahony as vice president-general counsel at AOG. He also said Mahony’s focus was on community improvement.

“Emon Mahony hired me from a law firm as a young lawyer. He was an excellent mentor for me as he had practiced law before going into business,” Shipley said. “Emon was instrumental in promoting and helping to bring to fruition the Lake Fort Smith expansion, which greatly helped our area. He was very interested in encouraging young people to become involved in community activities, and I always appreciated his encouragement in being involved in the community. He never asked me to do anything with regard to the community that was not in the community’s best interest. I always respected him greatly and will miss him. He truly was a great man.”

David Olive, chief of staff for Asa Hutchinson when he was first elected in 1996 as the U.S. House for Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District, founder of Washington, D.C.-based Catalyst Partners, and an attorney in Fort Smith for what was then Donrey Media, said Mahony was focused on making the world better around him.

“Emon Mahony’s legacy is that he had the ability to make communities better wherever he lived,” Olive said. “His impact in Fort Smith and the River Valley can be seen in the improvements he championed as well as in the lives of young men and women for whom he served as a mentor and friend. He had an infectious laugh; an inquisitive mind; and, a persistent desire to improve the infrastructure and quality of life for his neighbors. His contributions were immense and the Fort Smith area is better because of the time he lived here.”

According to his published obit, Mahony was predeceased by his parents, Emon Armstrong Mahony Sr., and Mabel Farmer Mahony; his brothers Mike and Jodie; and his daughter Terry Donathan Julian and son Paul Donathan. He is survived by his wife, Kay; his daughter Liza Nevenhoven and husband Scott, his son Emon Ossian Mahony and wife Esther Teo, and son Trent Donathan, as well as eight grandchildren.

The visitation will be held 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, July 24, 2026, at Young’s Funeral Directors, El Dorado. The funeral service will be Saturday, July 25, 2026, at 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church in El Dorado.

Link here for the complete obituary.