Frank Roger Seaver (April 12, 1883–30 October 1964) was an American lawyer, Naval officer, oil executive, and philanthropist. He grew up in

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popul ...

, graduating from

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

in 1905, where he managed the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

and served as the first president of the Associated Students of Pomona College. He then attended

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

and practiced law in Los Angeles, and helped draft the first

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

. He served in the Navy during World War I and helped establish the California Naval Militia. He met

Edward L. Doheny Edward Laurence Doheny (; August 10, 1856 – September 8, 1935) was an American oil tycoon who, in 1892, drilled the first successful oil well in the Los Angeles City Oil Field. His success set off a petroleum boom in Southern California, a ...

on a weekend yachting trip in 1919, who hired him to work for his oil enterprise. He became General Counsel and Managing General Agent for Doheny's operations in Mexico from 1921 to 1927, and convinced the

Mexican government The Federal government of Mexico (alternately known as the Government of the Republic or ' or ') is the national government of the United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the republi ...

to hire him for an ambitious road paving project. He later founded the Hydril Company, a producer of oil drilling equipment. He and his wife, Blanche, were a major contributor to Pomona, where they served as trustees, and where the Seaver Science Center is named after him and several other buildings are named after his family. They were also the principal benefactors of the Malibu campus of

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and t ...

, which named its College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences after him, and donated portions of their $10.1 million estate (equivalent to $ in ) to other institutions.

References

American philanthropists Pomona College alumni American lawyers Pomona College trustees American businesspeople in the oil industry United States Navy officers Harvard Law School alumni {{DEFAULTSORT:Seaver, Frank Roger