- William Larimer Mellon
William Larimer Mellon Sr. (
1 June 1868 –October 1949), sometimes referred to as W. L., was a founder ofGulf Oil .Biography
Born in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania onJune 1 ,1868 toJames Ross Mellon , eldest son of JudgeThomas Mellon , and Rachel Larimer Mellon, daughter of railroad and land baronWilliam Larimer, Jr. He spent part of his childhood in the West with his uncleAndrew W. Mellon , who deeply influenced him. In the 1880s he developed an interest in the burgeoningpetroleum industry inPennsylvania , but his nascent oil company was bought out byJohn D. Rockefeller 'sStandard Oil in 1895.When oil was discovered in
Spindletop ,Texas in 1901, the Mellon family invested in the well. When the well began to decline in 1902, W.L. was dispatched to investigate, and took on a progressively larger role in management. In January 1907 he established the Gulf Oil Corporation, which proceeded to build a pipeline fromOklahoma toPort Arthur, Texas and was shipping Oklahoma crude oil to port by September. It expanded steadily thereafter, becoming one of the largest oil companies in theUnited States .In 1949 Mellon established the a graduate school of industrial administration at the
Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, which is today theDavid A. Tepper School of Business atCarnegie Mellon University . He died in October of that year.Personal life
Mellon married
Mary Hill Taylor , they had four children:Rachel Mellon Walton ,Margaret Mellon Hitchcock ,William Larimer Mellon Jr. , andMatthew Mellon . [http://www.geneall.net/U/per_page.php?id=573114]References
*
* Reeves, Amy, " [http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=21&issue=20060308 Oilman Mellon Struck It Bigger] ," "Investor's Business Daily ",March 8 ,2006
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