Louis Blaustein (January 16, 1869 in

Pikeliai Pikeliai ( pl, Pikiele, ) is a town in Telšiai County, Lithuania. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 378 people. Pikeliai is named after the nearby "Pikelhof" estate. History Pikeliai was first mentioned in 1594 in the Boo ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

– July 27, 1937 in

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

) was an American businessman and philanthropist who founded the

American Oil Company Amoco () is a brand of fuel stations operating in the United States, and owned by BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company in 1889 around a refinery in Whiting, Indiana, an ...

(AMOCO).

Biography

Blaustein was born in

(then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

) to a

Lithuanian Jewish Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent areas o ...

family,Rader Marcus, Jaco
United States Jewry, 1776–1985, Volumes 1–2
p. 276 and immigrated to the United States in 1883Jewish Telegraph Agenacy: "Louis Blaustein, Oil Magnate, Philanthropist, Dead at 68"
July 29, 1937 at the age of fourteen.Blaustein Philanthropic Group Family History
retrieved April 8, 2015 He worked as a peddler in Pennsylvania before moving to Baltimore, where he and his son Jacob delivered kerosene on a horse-drawn wagon. He then took a job with the

Standard Oil Company 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 ...

where he eventually saved enough capital to found his own oil company with his son

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...

in 1910, the

(AMOCO), and incorporated it in 1922. In 1924, the

Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company The Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company (PAT) was an oil company founded in 1916 by the American oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny after he had made a huge oil strike in Mexico. Pan American profited from fuel demand during World War I, and fro ...

purchased a 50% interest in the company for $5 million in exchange for a guaranteed supply of oil. Before this deal, AMOCO was forced to depend on

Standard Oil of New Jersey ExxonMobil, an American multinational oil and gas corporation presently based out of Texas, has had one of the longest histories of any company in its industry. A direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the company traces its root ...

, a competitor, for its supplies. In 1925,

Standard Oil of Indiana Amoco () is a brand of filling station, fuel stations operating in the United States, and owned by BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and petroleum, oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company in 1889 around a oil re ...

acquired Pan American, beginning

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...

's association with the AMOCO name. AMOCO pioneered the concepts of the drive-in gas station, the first metered gasoline pump (which showed the quantity and total price of fuel received), and the original

anti-knock An antiknock agent is a gasoline additive used to reduce engine knocking and increase the fuel's octane rating by raising the temperature and pressure at which auto-ignition occurs. The mixture known as gasoline or petrol, when used in high comp ...

gasoline which allowed the development of the high-compression engine. AMOCO would expand vertically, owning refineries, steamship terminals and truck fleets in addition to its vast network of service stations.

Philanthropy

Blaustein was a prominent philanthropist, donating most of his money anonymously. The Louis & Henrietta Blaustein Family Foundation was dissolved in 2001 and replaced by the Jacob & Hilda Blaustein Family Foundation, the Alvin & Fanny B. Thalheimer Foundation, and the Henry & Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Family Foundation.Baltimore Sun: "Blausteins split empire" by Terence O'Hara
January 18, 1999

Personal life

He was married to Henrietta Gittelsohn (1871–1965) with whom he had five children, of which three survived to adulthood: Jacob Blaustein (1892–1970), Fanny Blaustein Thalheimer (1895–1957) and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg (1899–1992). The Blaustein family continues on in three businesses: American Trading and Production Corporation (ATAPCO), Lord Baltimore Capital Corporation, and Rosemore, Inc.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaustein, Louis 1869 births 1937 deaths American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent American company founders Jewish American philanthropists American businesspeople in the oil industry