Roger A. Markle (December 12, 1933 – January 2020) was an American mining engineer and executive. He served as the 15th director of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. He later served as the president and vice chairman of
Quaker State
Quaker State is an American brand of motor oil produced by Shell, the US-based division of Shell plc since 2002,NERCO.
Early life
Roger A. Markle was born on December 12, 1933, in
Sidney, Montana
Sidney is a city in and the county seat of Richland County, Montana, United States, less than west of the North Dakota border. The population was 6,346 at the 2020 census. The city lies along the Yellowstone River and is in proximity to the ...
to Forrest Markle. He attended a one-room schoolhouse up until eighth grade. He then attended Montana School of Mines for two years while working weekends at mines in
Butte
__NOTOC__
In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word mea ...
. He then moved to
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...
and enrolled at the
University of Alaska
The University of Alaska System is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Alaska. It was created in 1917 and comprises three separately accredited universities on 19 campuses. The system serves nearly 30,000 full- and part-time stud ...
. Markle graduated from the University of Alaska with a Bachelor of Science in mining engineering in 1959. He graduated from
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
in 1965 with a Master of Science in mining management. He then graduated from the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
in 1971 with a
Master of Business Administration
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
.
Career
Markle served in the U.S. Navy. He was honorably discharged in 1954.
Markle worked as a mill superintendent, chief mine engineer and then general superintendent with Alaska Mines & Minerals, Inc. from 1958 to 1961 at the Red Devil Mine near
Red Devil, Alaska
Red Devil is a census-designated place (CDP) in Bethel Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population was 23 at the 2010 census, down from 48 in 2000. Their post office was founded in 1957.
History
The village was named after the Red Devil ...
. He then worked as an instructor of adult education at the University of Alaska from 1962 to 1964. From 1965 to 1974, Markle worked at
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 ...
and its subsidiaries in varying positions relating to mining. He started as a project manager in
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
and ended as a manager of mine development. From 1974 to 1978, he served as the president of the western division of the Valley Camp Coal Company.
In 1978, President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
nominated Markle as the director of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. He assumed the position on September 1, 1978, and resigned the post on April 11, 1979, due to personal reasons. Lindsay D. Norman assumed the role of acting director following his resignation. In 1979, he returned to the Valley Camp Coal Company, which was then owned by
Quaker State
Quaker State is an American brand of motor oil produced by Shell, the US-based division of Shell plc since 2002, In January 1988, Markle was named vice chairman. He served as president until May 1988. He retired from Quaker State in 1989.
In 1990, Markle became executive vice president of NERCO. He retired shortly before the company was sold to Kennecott Utah Copper in 1993.
Personal life and death
Markle married Mary E. (d. 2014) around 1971. She had two daughters from a previous relationship.
After retiring, Markle and his wife lived in Vancouver, Washington,
Atlantic Beach, North Carolina
Atlantic Beach is a town in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. It is one of the five communities located on Bogue Banks. The population was 1,495 at the 2010 census.
History
The idea of Atlantic Beach was first envisioned in the 1870 ...
and, finally,
Sun City, Arizona
Sun City is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, that is located within the Phoenix metropolitan area.
The population was 39,931 as of the 2020 United Sta ...
. Markle died in January 2020 in Sun City.
Legacy
Between 2014 and 2020, Markle gave $2.1million to create the Roger A. Markle Climate Change Adaptation Endowment at the University of Alaska. He created the endowment to support people living in the Arctic that may be impacted by
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...