Randall "Randy" Kubota

1954 - 2020

Randall "Randy" Keith Kubota
1954-2020
Randall "Randy" Keith Kubota of Montgomery, Texas, died on April 24 at age 65. His wife, two daughters, and their husbands were at his side. Other family members were unable to join them because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but kept a vigil from their homes through his final days. The cause of death was cardiac arrest.
Born and raised in Ithaca, New York, Randy earned his bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1977. His family had deep ties to Cornell University, where his father, Joe Kubota, was a research scientist, and his mother was an administrator in the Admissions and the Natural Resources Departments. Randy's parents predeceased him.
Since childhood, Randy's passion was ice hockey. He led and captained teams in youth hockey leagues and at Ithaca High School. He was the first Ithaca High alumnus to make Cornell's freshman hockey team. At Cornell, Randy was a member of the Chi Psi fraternity, which was the center of his college life and gave rise to life-long friendships with many fraternity brothers.
Following his graduation from college, Randy moved to Houston, Texas, and began a 43-year career in the oil industry. During his early years in Houston, Randy met and married Michelle McMahon, a geologist. Their daughter, Allison Marie, was born in 1986. The family then moved to Aberdeen, Scotland, where Randy was the Drilling Manager for Texaco's North Sea operations. Their daughter, Elizabeth Anne, was born in 1989.
In 1994, Randy and his family moved to London, England, where he served as Texaco's Asset Manager of the Galley Field in the North Sea. In 2000, he advanced professionally to become Texaco's General Manager of International Subsea Drilling, and was based in Houston. In 2002, Chevron purchased Randy's long-time employer, Texaco. Randy worked as a General Manager for Chevron, operating its global subsea engineering and support functions. His work took him to more than 25 countries a year, including Nigeria, Columbia, Southeast Asia, and Kazakhstan.
Randy retired from Chevron in 2010, and was quickly recruited out of retirement to lead Wild Well Control's engineering team after the Deepwater Horizon blowout. Following Wild Well in 2012, Randy became the Director of Operations for CCED, an oil production company in Muscat, Oman. Michelle and Randy spent five years living in the Sultanate of Oman, and loved snorkeling and fishing in the beautiful Indian Ocean. They returned to Houston in 2017, to enjoy their retirement and Randy's "team" of Labrador retrievers.
Randy was beloved for his spirit, his generous heart, and his boundless energy. His daily and seemingly countless acts of generosity, loyalty, and kindness came from a place of pure goodness in his heart. He was warm and humble, with a beautiful smile and a ready laugh. He adored his wife and daughters; they were the very center of his life.
He is survived by his wife, Michelle McMahon Kubota; his daughters Allison McCarty and her husband Brett McCarty, and Elizabeth Kubota-Mishra and her husband Scott Mishra; his brothers, Robert Joe Kubota and John Stuart Kubota, and his sister, Carolyn Kubota; his two Labrador retrievers, Duke and Gunner; and numerous Kubota and McMahon nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be planned for later in the year when Randy's family and friends can safely come together to celebrate his life. He will be missed.
For additional memorial information, please visit: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries, under "Randall Kubota."