8/13/2019 Oil Legend Got Start in Artesia

1/4

Oil Legend Got Start In Artesia By Leslie Linthicum

Copyright 2007 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff WriterRobert O. Anderson, a legendary New Mexico wildcatter

who built a stake in an Artesia oil refinery into one of thecountry's largest oil companies, has died.

Anderson, whose name graces the business school at theUniversity of New Mexico, was 90 when he died Sunday at hishome in Roswell.

Robert O. Anderson dies at age 90 in Roswell.

Anderson was a Chicago transplant who went to Artesia ineastern New Mexico in 1941 to get a start in the oil businessand eventually built AtlanticRichfield Co., known as ARCO

8/13/2019 Oil Legend Got Start in Artesia

2/4

into the nation's sixth-largest oil company.He served as chief executive officer of ARCO for 17 years

and chairman of the board for 21 years overseeing the

audacious Trans-Alaska pipeline project and discovering thelargest oil field in North America before retiring at the endof 1985.

Anderson was as comfortable in a business suit and bow tieat his company headquarters in a Los Angeles skyscraper as he

was in a cowboy hat and boots on his New Mexico cattle ranchalong the banks of the Rio Hondo near Picacho.

Even with immense wealth he owned thousands of acresof ranchland, farms, feedlots, office buildings, a bootmanufacturing business and an eight-bank holding company

Anderson remained down-to-earth, happiest puttering aroundhis ranch in one of his many battered Stetsons, inspectingcattle.

"With all his wealth and accomplishments, he alwaysmeasured his true success by his family and his marriage to his

wife, Barbara," said his son Phelps, who also is an oilman inRoswell.

R.O. and Barbara raised seven children and were marriedfor 68 years.

She was with him at their home in Roswell along withsome of his children, his two dogs, a roaring fire and aChristmas tree when he died Sunday evening, Phelps

Anderson said.Gov. Bill Richardson ordered flags to fly at half-staff in

memory of Anderson and called him "an outstanding NewMexican."

Richardson, in a statement, said Anderson would be

8/13/2019 Oil Legend Got Start in Artesia

3/4

remembered "for his impeccable reputation in the oil industryand his dedication to civic and environmental issues. He hasleft an everlasting impression on the petroleum industry and

New Mexico."Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., called Anderson "a rareindividual whose life and contributions went well beyondenergy and business."

"There is a Bible verse that says to whom much is given,from him much will be required," Domenici said. "Robertunderstood this and actively parlayed his business success to

education, civic and charitable causes. That will be his lastinglegacy." Anderson was born in Chicago in 1917 into a family with a

connection to the oil industry. His father, Hugo, was an oil andgas banker.

Anderson got a taste of the oil fields during summer vacations when he worked as a pipeline maintenance workernear Corpus Christi, Texas. After he graduated from theUniversity of Chicago in 1939, Anderson went to work for the

American Mineral Spirits Co., a Chicago-based oil company. With a $50,000 loan and a desire to get his hands dirty in

the oil business at the ground level, Anderson moved to Artesia in 1941 and bought a one-third share in a smallrefinery. He built that business by buying other refineries andin 1945 moved the business headquarters to Roswell.

In 1957, he hit it big, discovering the Empire-Abo Field insoutheastern New Mexico and, in 1963, merged his company

with the Atlantic Refining Co. of Philadelphia.In 1965, he became chairman and CEO of Atlantic and

merged with Richfield Oil of Los Angeles, creating the giant

8/13/2019 Oil Legend Got Start in Artesia

4/4

AtlanticRichfield Co. Anderson was in charge of ARCO when the company

discovered the Prudhoe Bay oil field on Alaska's North Slope

in 1968, the largest oil field ever discovered in North America.He led the movement among a group of energy companies tobuild the 800-mile Trans-Alaska pipeline from the Arctic Sea tothe Gulf of Alaska.

After he retired, Anderson returned to the Hondo Valleyand created Hondo Oil & Gas Co. in Roswell, where he servedas CEO until retiring in 1996.

Although oil and ranching were his loves, he also was an artcollector and philanthropist. He founded the InternationalInstitute for Environment and Development in London andserved for more than 20 years on the board of the AspenInstitute.

His name is familiar to most New Mexicans through thebusiness school at UNM, which was named the Robert O.

Anderson School of Management. Above all, he was a family man. Although he had suffered a

stroke and his health was failing, he visited his ranchingoperations and his sons' Sun Valley Energy Co. as recently astwo weeks ago.

"He was a fantastic father," his son Robert said. "He wasgenerous, he was funny and he was supportive."

Robert said the family plans a public memorial servicesometime after the New Year's holiday.

Anderson is survived by his wife, seven children, 20grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.