CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- Eddie "Chip" Verneal Bonner Jr., former executive vice president and general counsel for Susser Holdings Corp., died Jan. 25 after a battle with cancer. He was 62.
Bonner became outside general counsel for Susser Holdings in 1994 as a member of the law firm of Porter, Rogers, Dahlman and Gordon PC in Corpus Christi, Texas. He came in-house with his legal team in 2000 as executive vice president and general counsel.
Bonner was an early investor in Susser Holdings, the Corpus Christi-based parent company of the Stripes convenience-store chain, where he was executive vice president of Stripes LLC. He was a principal architect of numerous acquisitions as well as Stripes’ new-store development program and the IPO of both Susser Holdings and Susser Petroleum Partners LP. Bonner attended every board of directors' meeting from 1994 through 2014, when he left the company following its sale to Energy Transfer Partners' Sunoco LP in 2015.
“Chip was an extraordinarily talented business partner and someone whose guidance and counsel I sought every day in both a professional and personal capacity," Sam L. Susser of Susser Holdings told CSP Daily News. "He helped create a strong family culture, and I don’t know anyone with a larger circle of devoted friends and colleagues. Chip fought brain cancer with the same grit and determination that he applied at our company each and every day. I am blessed to have had such a special friend in my life.”
Bonner is survived by his wife, Susan Swanson Bonner, and their children, Sarah Jane Bonner and Eddie "Neal" Verneal Bonner III; his mother, Donna; siblings Teri, Pace and Andy; uncles Chuck and Curtis Bonner; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. He was preceded in death by his father, Neal Bonner.
CSP sends condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.
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