Ralph Gallagher

Background

Gallagher was born on May 27, 1881 in Salamanca, New York, to Catholic parents of Irish descent. His father ran a hardware store and provided a moderate income for the family.

Education

Gallagher attended elementary and secondary schools in Salamanca; but in 1897, at the age of sixteen, he left school to help support the family when his father became ill. He continued his education by studying at night, first covering high school subjects and later focusing principally on engineering.

Career

On his first job (working twelve hours a day) Gallagher oiled machinery and swept floors at the oil-pumping station in Olean, New York, of the New York Transit Company, which was owned by Standard Oil interests. He later held jobs as tank gauger, fireman, relief telegrapher, and construction foreman with the National Transit Company and the United Pipe Lines Company, also Standard Oil concerns, in the oil region around Bradford, Pennsylvania. In 1900 Gallagher was transferred to the East Ohio Gas Company, a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) that was organized to bring natural gas from West Virginia to market in eastern Ohio. At this time the company was building a gas pipeline from West Virginia to Cleveland, Ohio. Gallagher first served as shop foreman in Akron, and two years later he was made paymaster and assistant to the superintendent of trunk-line construction. In 1906 he was put in charge of all trunkline work and became superintendent of gas distributing plants outside Cleveland. He was transferred to the company's headquarters in Cleveland as superintendent of its pipeline system in 1908; two years later he was given charge of the company's city gas plants and main pipelines. The East Ohio Gas Company remained a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) when the latter was partially dissolved by the United States Supreme Court in 1911. Gallagher continued to rise to more responsible positions. He was made director and vice-president of East Ohio in 1923 and in the same year was elected head of the American Gas Association. Through that association he contributed, especially, to the development of safety standards for the gas industry. In 1926 he became president of East Ohio. He was also called upon by the parent company for special assignments, which included directing studies of cost and market potential preliminary to the organization of two natural gas companies in the South and Southwest in which the Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) acquired substantial interests. Gallagher became a director of one of these companies - a gas-producing and transmission concern in Louisiana. In 1933 he went to the parent company's headquarters in New York to supervise its natural gas interests. In the same year Gallagher was elected to the board of directors of the Standard Oil Company (New Jersey). In 1937 he became vice-president and a member of the executive committee. In November 1942 he succeeded W. C. Teagle as chairman and in December became the company's chief executive upon the sudden death of the president, W. S. Farish. Although not formally educated in science or engineering, as were nearly all the men in the company's top administration at that time, Gallagher had qualities of character and experience that uniquely qualified him for administrative leadership during the difficult 1930's and the subsequent war years. He won the confidence and cooperation of his associates by his fairness, integrity, and sound judgment. He brought to the Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) special assets derived from his many years with the East Ohio Gas Company, which, because of its public utility character, had close relations with the general public and government. He had gained therefore a vital understanding of public relations problems, special experience in corporate finance and reporting, and concern for suitable organization patterns and observance of lines of authority. Besides his broad participation in the parent company's administration, Gallagher made special contributions in significant areas. Over the years his concern for and attention to the interests of employees influenced the company and also the whole industry. He promoted a formal program for executive development. Also, in the decision-making process he encouraged free communication and full discussion as a way to reach a consensus. Further, he contributed significantly to broadening the company's concept of its responsibilities to the public and developing means for putting the new insights into practice. Gallagher, in accordance with his own wish, was not reelected president in 1944. He again became chairman of the board of directors. On December 31, 1945, he retired, after nearly forty-eight years of service with Standard Oil companies. After leaving the company he served as director of W. T. Grant Company and J. P. Morgan & Co. , Inc. He died at his home in New York City, on July 31, 1952.

Achievements

• Gallagher is best remembered as president of Standard Oil Company, who provided strong leadership in the reorganization of the administrative structure and procedures in order to provide more effective coordination of the affiliates' world-wide operations and to enable the directors and officers to devote their time principally to overall policy, planning, finance, and control.

Membership

President of the East Ohio Gas Company (1926), vice-president of the Standard Oil Company (1937)

Personality

A man of firm convictions, Gallagher was also quiet, mild, and modest. He had deep human sympathies and a practical wisdom derived from a long and varied experience.

Connections

Gallagher was survived by a son and two daughters; his wife, Mary E. Gallagher, had died on August 22, 1938.

Spouse:

Mary E. Gallagher

References

• Pioneering in big business, 1882-1911, (History of Standard Oil Company New Jersey)
• The Resurgent Years, 1911-1927: History of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey)
• The History of the Standard Oil Company: All Volumes