Famous American Oil Barons

Businessman Jerry Jones is best known for being the owner of the National Football League (NFL)'s Dallas Cowboys since 1989. An alumnus of the University of Arkansas, he launched many businesses as a young man and suffered a series of failures before finally finding financial success. Besides his business ventures, he has appeared in a few TV programs.

James Drury was the quintessential tall, dark, and handsome Western hero of Hollywood in the 1950s and the 1960s. he had started his acting career at age 12. Interestingly he graduated in horticulture and animal husbandry. He is best remembered for his role in the NBC series The Virginian.

The son of wealthy Pittsburgh banker Thomas Mellon, Andrew William Mellon had followed in his father’s footsteps, to be a banker. He had also been the American ambassador to the U.K. and the American secretary of the treasury. He owned companies such as Alcoa, Old Overholt whiskey, and Gulf Oil.

Part of the famous Rockefeller family of bankers and industrialists, William Rockefeller played a major role in the development of the Standard Oil Company along with his brother John D. Rockefeller. His interests also included copper mining and railways, and he also set up what is now known as Citigroup.

Texan oil magnate Nelson Bunker Hunt is best remembered for his colossal failure in his attempt to manipulate the global silver market by gathering huge amounts of the metal. Government intervention prevented his venture, and he and his brothers were banned from trading and later declared bankruptcy.

Edwin Drake, or Colonel Drake, was the first American to drill an oil well successfully. Initially a railroad worker, he later helped develop Titusville and other oil-rich areas of northwestern Pennsylvania into booming oil-drilling zones. His failure to patent his techniques led to his poverty in his final years.

Robert Mosbacher had initially won many national and international sailing competitions and also graced the cover of Sports Illustrated once. At 21, advised by his father, he launched an oil and gas company. He later ventured into politics and also served as the United States Secretary of Commerce.

Sinclair Oil Corporation founder Harry Ford Sinclair had followed into his father’s footsteps to become a pharmacist before venturing into the oil industry. Being a sports lover, he financially supported baseball's Federal League and also invested in thoroughbred race horses. He was dragged into the Teapot Dome Scandal, too.

J. Howard Pew headed the Sun Oil Company, now known as Sunoco, founded by his father, oil magnate Joseph Newton Pew, Sr. He introduced many innovations in his company and later formed a shipbuilding company with his brother. He and his siblings also formed the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Apart from being an oil magnate, Atlantic Richfield founder Robert Orville Anderson was also a prominent art and culture lover. He financially backed organization such as Harper's Magazine and the LA County Museum of Art. He received many honorary degrees and awards and was made a life trustee of Caltech.

Oil tycoon J. Hugh Liedtke co-founded Zapata Petroleum Corp. along with his brother William Liedtke and president George H.W. Bush. He later acquired another company and merged it with Zapata to form Pennzoil, and eventually won a 4-year court battle to beat Texaco in the run for Getty Oil.

In his early days, Lee Wilder Thomas wished to preach the gospel, but he later concentrated on the oil business of his time. He, along with another African-American oil magnate Jake Simmons, Jr., formed the Simmons Royalty Co. He later developed the town of Summit in Oklahoma.