Jackson Monroe Rathbone

Background

Monroe Jackson Rathbone was born on March 1, 1900 in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the son of Monroe Jackson Rathbone, manager of an oil refinery, and Ida Virginia Welch.

Education

In the period 1918-1919, during World War I, he served as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. He returned to studies at Lehigh University after the war and graduated in 1921 with a degree in chemical engineering.

Career

In 1921 Rathbone joined Standard Oil Company of Louisiana at the firm's Baton Rouge refinery and began a rapid advance through that company's management, rising from assistant to the general superintendent in 1926 to company president in 1936.

He instituted changes in the Louisiana company, most notably introducing the fluid catalytic oil-cracking process. He gathered together a talented group of engineers and scientists and pushed for research on better quality fuel with less energy waste, artificial rubber, and other products. These developments positioned the company well for World War II production demands and expansion.

In 1944, Standard Oil Company (New Jersey), among the world's largest corporations, appointed Rathbone president and director of another affiliate, Esso Standard Oil Company, and he moved to New Jersey. Five years later he became a director of the parent company, with responsibility for employee and public relations, and the contact director for the Esso affiliate.

Rathbone's 1951 report on the prospect for petroleum chemicals provided a base for Standard Oil (New Jersey) and its affiliates to move rapidly into that business. In 1954 he became president of the company and from 1960 to 1965 he served as chief executive officer and was chairman of the board from 1963 until his retirement.

In 1960, Rathbone pushed to completion the decentralization begun in 1927 of Standard Oil from a producing to holding company, which required restructuring the role of management as well as that of the affiliate companies. The parent company controlled funds and research and sought to develop leaders with a worldview while the affiliates handled operations. With modifications this reorganization endured for more than twenty years. Also in 1960, under a Department of Justice decree, Standard Oil (New Jersey) and Socony Mobil Oil Corporation began to dissolve their jointly owned affiliate, Standard-Vacuum Oil Company, which had operated principally east of Suez, Egypt. This dissolution enabled Jersey to develop one of its most profitable affiliates, Esso Standard Eastern, in 1962. Rathbone became interested in the Greening the Earth Program of the United States and the United Nations to provide cheap fertilizer from petrochemicals.

Under his leadership Standard Oil (New Jersey) moved rapidly in that area, thereby creating an exciting period at the company, which poured millions into fertilizer plants around the globe. No corresponding infrastructure existed to deliver and market the fertilizer produced, however, and not every farmer knew how to use the product.

After investing almost $500 million Standard Oil (New Jersey) sold the plants and absorbed the loss. During the 1960 reorganization Rathbone pushed the consolidation of all domestic affiliates into the Humble Oil and Refining Company (Now Exxon Corporation), a move that increased profits as well as the competitive position of Standard Oil (New Jersey) within the United States. A glutted market in the same year led to long debates over the posted price for oil from the Middle East and Venezuela. Rathbone then decided to reduce the posted price closer to actual market price. Within a month five oil-producing nations created the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

While Venezuela's Dr. Juan Pablo Perez Alfonso more than any other individual deserved the title "Father of OPEC, " some United States oil company executives credited Rathbone with that questionable title. Rathbone constantly sought more petroleum to increase the reserve supplies of Standard Oil (New Jersey) by purchasing companies with such supplies and by pressing the company's exploration units to search for oil and natural gas in likely regions.

The oil strike in Libya in 1959, after competing companies had ended their search, proved sensational. Of greater importance, however, Rathbone pushed the company into the acquisition of vast acreages in the Gulf of Mexico, where in 1962 it began offshore production. The company later found oil off the California coast.

He retired in 1965, but his interest in the company continued until his death in Baton Rouge.

Achievements

• Rathbone proved to be an outstanding leader and executive. His reorganization of company operations increased efficiency and profits, and his constant search for oil for production and reserves left Standard Oil (New Jersey) in a strong position for later operations. He vigorously fought the company's name change to Exxon Corporation in 1973 but later graciously admitted that the new name was needed. He became active in many organizations, including the Exxon Education Foundation, and devoted much time to young people. He received ten national and international awards for executive leadership and innovation as well as numerous honorary degrees.

Connections

On April 22, 1923, he married Eleanor Groves. They had two children.

Father:

Monroe Jackson Rathbone

Manager of an oil refinery

Mother:

Ida Virginia Welch

Spouse:

Eleanor Groves

Daughter:

Virginia Rathbone

Son:

Dr. Monroe Jackson Rathbone