Clifton Canter Garvin Jr. (December 22, 1921 – April 17, 2016) was an American engineer, army officer, and oilman. In 1947 Garvin joined Standard Oil of New Jersey (called
Exxon
ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...
after 1973) and retired from the company in 1986. From 1972 to 1975 he served as its president, and from 1975 to 1986 as its chairman.
Biography
He was born in
Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area.
The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...
Exxon
ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...
Corporation as a process engineer in their refineries. He worked in the
Baton Rouge Refinery
ExxonMobil's Baton Rouge Refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is the fifth-largest oil refinery in the United States and thirteenth-largest in the world, with an input capacity of per day as of January 1, 2020. The refinery is the site of the first ...
and ran Exxon's chemical operations. Garvin's corporate background was in transport, refining and marketing as well as chemicals—areas of the business that were important to Exxon at a time when governments in the Middle East and Latin America were squeezing the profits out of petroleum production. He was marked as a comer at Exxon in the early 1960s. In 1965 he took over the company's chemical operations and helped turn them into the fastest-growing part of Exxon's business. He became president of Exxon in 1972 and was selected Chairman and CEO in 1975 until his retirement in 1986.
In 1981, he was appointed to President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
's National Productivity Advisory Committee and later served on the President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control. He served as Chairman of
Citibank
Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...
,
Johnson and Johnson
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...
,
J.C. Penney
Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Girl ...
,
PepsiCo
PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manuf ...
, Inc, Sperry Corporation, and TRW Inc.
He served on the board of visitors of Virginia Tech from 1988 to 1996 and was rector from 1991 to 1996. In 1997, the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors selected Garvin as the recipient of the William H. Ruffner Medal, the university's highest honor, for his selfless dedication and years of service to the university. He had honorary degrees from New York University, Stevens Institute of Technology and Georgetown University. He earned the
Eagle Scout
Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...