Gulf Tide

Before he was old enough to vote, William Larimer Mellon decided that he had not been born to sit at a desk. He refused to finish school, was miserable as a shipping clerk. To curb his restlessness, staid Uncle Andrew Mellon assigned him some oil leases that had turned up in the course of some family deals. To them, William added scores of others. He built a refinery and pipeline, surprised his money-wise family by organizing an integrated oil business which he sold to the Rockefellers in 1895 for about twice what it cost.

After that, restless William knew what he wanted. When the Mellons picked up some more leases, he got his chance. He helped organize Gulf Oil Corp in 1907, became its president two years later. By 1929, Gulf under William Mellon had netted an average of $25 million a year for nearly a decade. Since then it has grown into the world's fourth largest oil producer (total assets: $839 million), with holdings scattered from Venezuela to the Middle East. For the first quarter of this year, the company reported a whopping profit of $38,500,000.

Over this empire, Bill Mellon, as president and later as chairman, kept a tight hold--until last week. Then, a few days before his 80th birthday, Oilman Mellon announced his retirement.

To take his place he picked Gulf President James Frank Drake, 67, a Mellon-trained man who has worked for the family since 1919. Into the presidency went Vice President Sidney A. Swensrud, 47, an oilman right after old Bill Mellon's heart. An honor graduate of Harvard's business school, he left a teaching job there to join Standard Oil Co. (of Ohio) in 1928, was vice president in charge of production when Bill Mellon hired him a year ago. With Swensrud as chief administrative officer, Gulf is certain to continue on its big-spending Mellon way. As a starter, it will spend up to $20 million3 on development in the Middle East alone.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.