Joshua E. Comstock, the 46-year-old founder, CEO and chairman of C&J Energy Services Ltd., has died unexpectedly. The company’s board was meeting Friday to discuss a plan for succession. He also founded Casedhole Solutions Inc. and served as its CEO and chairman. Comstock in early 1990 began working for J4 Oilfield Service, a test pump services company, where his primary responsibility was working natural gas production as a service contractor for an ExxonMobil Corp. predecessor company. He founded C&J in 1997 in Corpus Christi, TX, growing it from a small pressure pumping business with two employees to a diversified onshore completion and production provider in North America and the Middle East. Comstock led the company through its initial public offering in July 2011, which resulted in a market capitalization of $1.6 billion. In March 2015, he guided C&J through its $1.4 billion merger with Nabors Industries Ltd.’s completions arm (see Shale Daily, April 22, 2015). C&J at the time owned the 13th biggest fleet of trucks used in U.S. hydraulic fracturing operations. C&J CFO/President Randy McMullen said Comstock’s “drive to excellence, determination, can-do spirit and commitment to our company will inspire and stay with us always. On behalf of our board of directors, executive management team and employees, we mourn his loss and extend our deepest sympathies to his family.”