Robert O. Anderson

SOCORRO, N.M., MAY 13, 2000 -- New Mexico Tech awarded the Robert O. Anderson the degree of Honorary Doctor of Petroleum Engineering at Commencement ceremonies today.

Born in Chicago on April 13, 1917, Robert Orville Anderson earned an impeccable reputation both domestically and internationally as a renowned petroleum executive, rancher, environmentalist, diplomat, and civic leader who has served the oil and gas industry, academia, and the community in various capacities over the past 40 years.

Mr. Anderson began his career in the oil industry shortly after obtaining his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Chicago in 1939. That same year he landed his first full-time job in the oil business with American Mineral Spirits Company, a subsidiary of Pure Oil Company in Chicago. In 1941, after acquiring a substantial interest in a small oil refinery in Artesia, New Mexico, he and his family moved to New Mexico. Over the next 15 years, he bought and expanded several refineries.

Mr. Anderson's long association with Atlantic Richfield Company has included 17 years as the company's Chief Executive Officer and 21 years as the Chairman of the Board. He retired from Atlantic Richfield in 1986, after 23 years on its board, to form Hondo Oil & Gas Company, an integrated independent oil company located in Roswell, New Mexico, of which he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from September 1986 to February 1994.

Besides being active in the oil business, Mr. Anderson's other business interests over the past 55 years have included cattle raising and feeding operations, mining and milling, and general manufacturing. He has served on a number of boards of both private and non-profit organizations, including the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas; Chase Manhattan Bank; Columbia Broadcasting System; Pan American Airlines; First National Bank of Chicago; Weyerhaeuser Company; and Carter Hawley Hale Stores, Inc.; the National Petroleum Council; and the University of New Mexico Anderson School of Management.

Robert O. Anderson served on the Board of Regents of New Mexico Tech from 1987 to 1992. Since 1994, he has held the position of Distinguished Professor of Petroleum Engineering at New Mexico Tech. He is a Life Trustee of the California Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago, and the International Institute for Environmental Development, London.

Mr. Anderson has received numerous awards for his tireless efforts in support of public, charitable, and political affairs. In 1978, he received the prestigious honor of being the first recipient of the Charles A. Lindbergh Award for Significant Achievement. A similar honor was bestowed upon him in 1989 as the first recipient of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Medal of Excellence. He has received many other significant honors and awards.

• Doctor of Humane Letters, University of New Mexico, 1966
• New Mexico "Man of the Year" Award, 1966
• Doctor of Law, New Mexico State University, 1968
• Recipient of the first Paul Horgan Award, Chaves County Historical Society, 1981
• Lovelace Foundation Award of Appreciation: 20 Years Service as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, 1987
• Paul Harris Fellowship Award, Roswell Rotary Club, 1997
• International Executive of the Year Award, Brigham Young University, 1977
• Swedish American of the Year Award, Stockholm, Sweden, 1978
• Family of Man Award, New York, 1980
• Roughneck Award, Independent Petroleum Association of America, 1981
• American Petroleum Institute Gold Medal Award, 1986
• Hearst Energy Award for Lifetime Achievement, 1996
• Honorary Chairman of the Aspen Institute in Aspen, Colorado
• Inducted into the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame