487:. Quote: Keck started Superior after he made one of the biggest streaks of the 1920s, in California's Kettleman hills. William Keck then became one of the first oilmen to move his business to Houston, which at the time was not much more than an inadequately drained malarial swamp... William Keck was known throughout the company he had created as "the Old Man", and people called him that until the day he died. His character was strong and some said it was mean. His political views were fiercely conservative, but he was nimble and innovative when it came to doing business. He was the first independent to drill offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, and year after year he set records for the deepest-drilled well. He gambled on a big scale and earned Superior the epithet it still carries today, that of being "the Cadillac of the oil business..." William Keck ran his company like a one-man machine, and he retained control of the stock even after it went public.
244:, he was the first to find commercial deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, where he set consecutive records for the deepest-drilled well. Running his company like a "one-man machine", he kept control of the company's stock after it went public. The company also became the largest independent oil producer in the United States. According to author Kevin Krajick, Keck also "practically ran the oil-rich nation of Venezuela." Keck was an active stalwart of the oil lobby politically, in part through his attorney Harold Morton and lobbyist Monroe Butler. Upon his death in 1964, his son William M. Keck Jr. became Superior's chief executive officer, followed by leadership from his second son Howard. He served as chairman of Superior. At one point, his fortune was estimated at $ 160 million, and at the time of his death, he and his family owned 51 per cent of Superior's shares.
404:, Kevin Krajick, Open Road Media, Feb 2, 2016. Quote: "This was Howard Keck. Keck was not just any Houston oil billionaire; his father had been William Keck, the world's greatest oil prospector, a man whose instincts about the location of petroleum were so uncanny, some believed him clairvoyant. Starting as a penniless roustabout, he rose in the 1920s to found the Superior Oil Company. He pioneered deep offshore drilling, was first to find commercial deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, and practically ran the oil-rich nation of Venezuela. Even in his later years, when a drilling rig brought up a slimy core, old man Keck sniffed and tasted the rock to gauge the prospect."
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were left "nothing specifically. They are said to be independently wealthy." The family house was willed to the
William M. Keck Foundation. Another 11,000 shares of Superior stock, valued at $ 17 million in 1964, were placed in trust to be divided among the University of Southern California, Pomona College, Occidental College, and the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour, San Gabriel, California.
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Although his estate was estimated to be worth upward of $ 160 million, he died owing $ 36.4 million to three banks in New York and Texas. He left his widow, Sylvia Jean Keck, with "$ 400,000 outright and trust income from 4,000 shares of stock valued at $ 6.34 million." His two daughters and two sons
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reporting that "four
California colleges and an Episcopal church have received $ 40 million more from William M. Keck's trusts, bringing to $ 130 million the value of his bequests to those institutions." USC said it was the largest gift in its history, and Stanford said their sum was "the largest
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Author Kevin
Krajick has described Keck as "the world's greatest oil prospector, a man whose instincts about the location of petroleum were so uncanny, some believed him clairvoyant." He was one of the first oilmen to move his business to
346:. His foundation provided $ 70 million of the $ 87 million cost of the Keck Telescope on the summit of Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano, which upon its start of construction in 1990, was to be the largest astronomical telescope in the world.
172:. Keck was very successful as an oil prospector. In one instance at the height of the 1920s oil boom in Los Angeles, he was the only "wildcatter" to retain a lease on 300 acres of Andrew Joughin's farm outside
119:. Author Kevin Krajick has described Keck as "the world's greatest oil prospector, a man whose instincts about the location of petroleum were so uncanny, some believed him clairvoyant." Keck established the
192:. The company focused on the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, and was involved with a number of new methods under Keck. Under Keck, in 1930 the company was the first to successfully use
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176:. While other prospectors turned away from the property, Keck's "46 highly productive wells were considered one of California's most successful oil-drilling projects".
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William Myron Keck was born on April 27, 1880. After his father left home to work in the oil fields, he landed a job selling sandwiches and candy on the
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115:(April 27, 1880 – August 20, 1964) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was best known as the founder of
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Keck died in 1964. Most of his estate was left to his three children, and he also left five beneficiary trusts for USC,
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unrestricted bequest we have ever received." It was also the largest sum gifted to both
Occidental and Pomona.
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in Los
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By 1921, he had accumulated enough leases to start his own firm. In 1921, Keck founded the
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He had several children with his wife, Alice Bertha
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off the coast of
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In 1985, the gifts were sent to the five beneficiary institutions, with
615:"Inside the Historic Owlwood Estate in Los Angeles That Sold for $ 90M"
402:"Barren Lands: An Epic Search for Diamonds in the North America Arctic"
450:"William Myron Keck II, grandson of legendary wildcatter, dies at 72"
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In 1933, under Keck the company was the first to use a reflection
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to help with finding hydrocarbons. Keck was a pioneer in deep
584:"Will of Superior Oil's Founder Reflects Lifelong Tax Wisdom"
500:"Big Daddy: Jesse Unruh and the Art of Power Politics"
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631:"4 Colleges Share in Trust Gifts"
722:People from Coalinga, California
344:NASA's Jet propulsion Laboratory
336:Keck Institute for Space Studies
280:and the Church of Our Savior in
16:American businessman (1880–1964)
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556:"Family Feud at Superior Oil"
156:, before making his way to
133:Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
91:Businessman, philanthropist
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170:Kettleman Hills oil fields
312:philanthropic foundations
180:Establishing Superior Oil
152:" in the oil business in
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712:American philanthropists
374:. W. M. Keck Observatory
144:Drilling as a speculator
546:, W. M. Keck Foundation
328:Keck School of Medicine
306:In 1954 he founded the
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73:San Gabriel, California
320:W. M. Keck Observatory
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518:. W M Keck Foundation
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238:offshore oil platform
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105:W. M. Keck Foundation
194:directional drilling
190:Coalinga, California
186:Superior Oil Company
168:and in California's
117:Superior Oil Company
101:Superior Oil Company
69:San Gabriel Cemetery
669:, October 23, 1990
667:The New York Times
651:The New York Times
635:The New York Times
621:, October 23, 2016
588:The New York Times
561:The New York Times
290:The New York Times
278:Occidental College
224:Growth of Superior
113:William Myron Keck
717:ExxonMobil people
649:, June 30, 1965,
455:Los Angeles Times
432:Los Angeles Times
234:offshore drilling
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590:. 1964-08-28.
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58:(1964-08-20)
727:Wildcatters
702:1964 deaths
697:1880 births
282:San Gabriel
254:Howard Keck
230:seismograph
80:Nationality
691:Categories
601:2023-02-06
350:References
334:, and the
162:speculator
158:California
150:roustabout
127:Early life
44:1880-04-27
596:0362-4331
544:"Founder"
516:"Founder"
218:Venezuela
214:Louisiana
99:Founding
522:28 April
485:page 175
378:28 April
270:Stanford
210:Nebraska
206:Oklahoma
174:Torrance
103:and the
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340:Caltech
314:in the
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324:Hawaii
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524:2015
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