Eddy Clark Scurlock (January 13, 1905 – January 17, 1988) was an American

oil industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The larges ...

tycoon A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

millionaire A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. In countries that use the short scal ...

, and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, who founded the

Scurlock Oil Company The Scurlock Oil Company was an American oil company, with headquarters located in Houston, Texas. History Founded in 1936 by Eddy C. Scurlock, the company was a tank car marketer of petroleum products. It emerged as an important transporter of ...

; the Eddy Refining Company; and the

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

Scurlock Foundation in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Early life

He was born in

Bronson, Texas Bronson is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in west central Sabine County, Texas, Sabine County, Texas, United States. It is located on U.S. Highway 96 (Texas), U.S. Highway 96 at the junction of Texas State Highway 184, State Highw ...

, the son of Robert William Scurlock (January 5, 1862–May 9, 1950) and Ella Octavia Clark (September 13, 1877–February 12, 1970). He had four siblings: Winona Scurlock (1902–1990), Willie Faye Scurlock (1907–1971), Juanita Clark Scurlock (1909–1985), and Werter Chappell Scurlock (1911–1985). He grew up in the small town of Tenaha. After high school, he went to work at a

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...

pipeline Pipeline may refer to: Electronics, computers and computing * Pipeline (computing), a chain of data-processing stages or a CPU optimization found on ** Instruction pipelining, a technique for implementing instruction-level parallelism within a s ...

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

site as a kitchen assistant. He later moved to Houston, where he bought a

gas station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoline ...

Career

In 1936, Scurlock borrowed money and formed

. A decade later, he bought a Houston

refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...

and renamed it Eddy Refining Company. His wife was Elizabeth Belschner (March 12, 1904–June 9, 2003), daughter of Andrew Belschner and Martha Quinn. They had one daughter, Laura Lee Scurlock (June 4, 1928–August 6, 1999). Laura married Jack Blanton, who became a Scurlock Oil and Eddy Refinery executive. Scurlock established and chartered the charitable Scurlock Foundation in April 1954. He was a

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of St. Luke's United Methodist Church, an advisory director of

Texas Commerce Bank The Texas Commerce Bank (officially Texas Commerce Bank N.A., with its parent bank holding company known as Texas Commerce Bancshares, Inc.) was a Texas-based bank acquired by Chemical Banking Corporation of New York in May 1987. The acquisiti ...

, and a director of

Lon Morris College Lon Morris College (LMC) was a private junior college located in Jacksonville, Texas, United States, and was the only school affiliated with the United Methodist Church that was owned by an individual conference and not the denomination ...

and

Texas Medical Center The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 60 medical institutions, largely concentrate ...

. Scurlock also benefited the Methodist Hospital System and the Institute of Religion in Houston.

Later years

In 1982, Scurlock Oil Company was sold to

Ashland Oil Ashland Global Specialty Chemicals Inc. is an American chemical company which operates in more than 100 countries. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, the company traces its roots back to the city of Ashland, Kentucky, where it was headquarter ...

. Eddy Refining Company and the Scurlock Foundation continue operations. Eddy C. Scurlock died at age 83 in Houston.Social Security Death Index, Name: Eddy C. Scurlock, Birth: Jan. 13, 1905, SSN: 456-24-7410, Issued: Texas, Death: Jan. 17, 1988, Last Residence: 77019 (Houston, Harris Co., TX).

References

External links

174 Years of Historic Houston: Who's Who - Eddy C. Scurlock
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scurlock, Eddy C. 1905 births 1988 deaths American businesspeople in the oil industry American chief executives Businesspeople from Houston 20th-century American businesspeople People from Sabine County, Texas People from Tenaha, Texas