Robert Orville Anderson

Robert Orville Anderson (April 13, 1917 – December 2, 2007) was an American business leader, legendary wildcatter and philanthropist who founded Atlantic Richfield Oil Co. (since 2000 part of BP) through the 1966 merger of the Atlantic and Richfield oil companies and was Arco's chairman for two decades. Anderson used his clout to support an array of major cultural organizations, from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to Harper's Magazine. He died December 2, 2007 at his home in Roswell, New Mexico.Citation | last =Woo| first =Elaine| author-link =Elaine Woo
title = Arco founder led firm into major civic philanthropy
newspaper = Los Angeles Times | pages =B6 | date =2007-12-05
url = http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-anderson5dec05,1,3067816.story]

Anderson turned Arco into the United States' sixth-largest oil company by the time he left in 1986 to pursue other interests. He was by then the largest individual landowner in the United States, with ranches and other holdings in Texas and New Mexico amounting to some 2,000 square miles and a personal fortune estimated at $200 million.

Early life

Robert Orville Anderson was born in Chicago on April 13, 1917, to the Swedish immigrants Hugo A. Anderson and Hilda Nelson. Hugo was a prominent banker who, Anderson often said, was the first banker in the U.S. "who loaned money on oil in the ground."

Robert attended the Laboratory Elementary and High Schools of the University of Chicago, majoring in economics and graduating in 1939. He was also a member of the Omega chapter of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity. During summers, he worked on pipelines in Texas. After graduating, he worked for the American Mineral Spirits Company, a subsidiary of Pure Oil. In 1941, his father helped him and his brothers buy a refinery in New Mexico.

Business

By 1950 Anderson owned several refineries, had built a pipeline system and had become a wildcatter. He entered the top ranks of independent oil producers in 1957 with a major find at the Empire-Abo field in New Mexico.

In 1963, Anderson merged his company into the Atlantic Refining Company of Philadelphia. In 1966, as Atlantic's chairman and chief executive, he merged with Richfield Oil of Los Angeles, forming Arco. Soon after, he merged again with Sinclair Oil, forming the United States' seventh-biggest oil company.

In 1967, his persistence led to Arco's discovery of still the largest oil field yet found in North America at Prudhoe Bay on Alaska's North Slope. That oil field has produced billions of barrels of crude and accounts for a fifth of domestic oil production.

Anderson led Arco's move from New York to Los Angeles in 1972, when it opened the landmark ARCO Center at 5th and Flower streets. The company's twin 52-story towers lifted downtown's skyline.

Anderson also led the seven-company effort to develop the Alaskan oil pipeline in 1974.

From 1966 to 1982, through acquisitions and strategic diversification, Anderson grew revenues 20-fold (from $1 billion to over $20 billion).

In 1985, with crude oil prices set to plunge and hostile corporate takeovers in the offing, Anderson led a major restructuring of Arco. Anderson left Arco in 1986 to form Hondo Oil & Gas Company, Roswell, New Mexico, where he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from September 1986 to February 1994. [http://www.mgt.unm.edu/aboutasm/roanderson.asp Robert O. Anderson | The Anderson School of Management, University of New Mexico ] ]

He was inducted into Junior Achievement's U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1986. [ cite news |title=The US Business Hall of Fame| publisher= Fortune | date= April 14, 1986 | url=http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1986/04/14/67377/index.htm| author=Rosalind Klein Berlin ]

Death

He died on December 2, 2007 in Roswell, New Mexico.cite news |last =Martin| first =Douglas | authorlink = |coauthors= |title=Robert O. Anderson, Oil Executive, Dies at 90 |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/business/06anderson.html |quote=Robert O. Anderson, an oilman whose Stetson-size accomplishments included building Atlantic Richfield into an industry giant; discovering oil in Alaska; becoming America’s largest rancher, and giving generously to environmental causes, died on Sunday at his home in Roswell, N.M. He was 90. |work=New York Times |date=December 6, 2007 |accessdate=2008-08-01 ]

Philanthropy

He rescued two flailing publications, The Observer, and Harper's Magazine. He persuaded Arco's board to purchase the Observer in 1977 when it was nearly bankrupt. He called it "a modest bet on the survival of England." In 1980, Arco saved Harper's with a pledge of $1.5 million, which was matched by a similar amount from the MacArthur Foundation.

Anderson guided Arco to play an important civic and philanthropic role in Los Angeles. The company donated $3 million toward the cost of a new building at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The building, which opened in 1986, was named for Anderson (it is now the Art of the Americas Building).

Anderson served as chairman of the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, which convenes business executives and others to discuss world problems. He helped found the Worldwatch Institute in Washington to monitor global environmental trends, the International Institute for Environment and Development in London to study environmental and food issues and the John Muir Institute of the Environment in Davis, California.

He was a lifetime trustee of the California Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago. The University of New Mexico's Robert O. Anderson School of Management was named after him in 1974.

References

Further reading

* [http://www.mgt.unm.edu/aboutasm/roanderson.asp University of New Mexico, Robert O. Anderson School of Management website biography]
* [http://www.aspeninstitute.org/site/c.huLWJeMRKpH/b.3640175/k.9262/The_Aspen_Institute_Mourns_Robert_O_Anderson_19172007.htm Aspen Institute announcement of Anderson's death]

External links

* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3025608.ece Obituary in "The Times", 10 December 2007]