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Robert Orville Anderson AI simulator
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Robert Orville Anderson AI simulator
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Robert Orville Anderson
Robert Orville Anderson (April 12, 1917 – December 2, 2007) was an American businessman, art collector, and philanthropist who founded Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO). Anderson also supported several 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.
Anderson turned ARCO into the United States' sixth-largest oil company by the time he left in 1986 due to mandatory retirement. 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 (5,200 km2) and a personal fortune estimated at $200 million.
Anderson was born in Chicago on April 13, 1917, to Swedish immigrants Hugo A. Anderson and Hilda Nelson. His father 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 elementary and high school at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, and then continued his studies at the University of Chicago, majoring in economics and graduating in 1939. Anderson was an intellectual and considered becoming a philosophy professor. He was 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.
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 Hondo 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 Atlantic Richfield Company (later shortened to "ARCO". The company's headquarters were in New York City.
In 1967, he approved recommendations from ARCO Alaska staff including geologists Marvin Mangus and John M. Sweet. His approval 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. Soon after, due to the wealth gained by the finding of Prudhoe Bay oil, he merged again with Sinclair Oil, forming the United States' seventh-biggest oil company.
Anderson led ARCO's move from New York City to Los Angeles in 1972, when it opened Atlantic Richfield Plaza on Flower street, which produced the twin towers of the city, for many years the tallest in the city.
Robert Orville Anderson
Robert Orville Anderson (April 12, 1917 – December 2, 2007) was an American businessman, art collector, and philanthropist who founded Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO). Anderson also supported several 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.
Anderson turned ARCO into the United States' sixth-largest oil company by the time he left in 1986 due to mandatory retirement. 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 (5,200 km2) and a personal fortune estimated at $200 million.
Anderson was born in Chicago on April 13, 1917, to Swedish immigrants Hugo A. Anderson and Hilda Nelson. His father 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 elementary and high school at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, and then continued his studies at the University of Chicago, majoring in economics and graduating in 1939. Anderson was an intellectual and considered becoming a philosophy professor. He was 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.
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 Hondo 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 Atlantic Richfield Company (later shortened to "ARCO". The company's headquarters were in New York City.
In 1967, he approved recommendations from ARCO Alaska staff including geologists Marvin Mangus and John M. Sweet. His approval 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. Soon after, due to the wealth gained by the finding of Prudhoe Bay oil, he merged again with Sinclair Oil, forming the United States' seventh-biggest oil company.
Anderson led ARCO's move from New York City to Los Angeles in 1972, when it opened Atlantic Richfield Plaza on Flower street, which produced the twin towers of the city, for many years the tallest in the city.