William Alton Jones (April 19, 1891 – March 1, 1962), was president of the

oil and gas A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels ...

conglomerate

Cities Service Company Citgo Petroleum Corporation (or Citgo, stylized as CITGO) is a United States–based refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. Headquartered in the Energy Corridor area o ...

(now

CITGO Citgo Petroleum Corporation (or Citgo, stylized as CITGO) is a United States–based refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. Headquartered in the Energy Corridor area o ...

). He was an influential

industrialist 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 ...

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 ...

, and close personal friend of

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Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

.W. Alton Jones
20th Century American Leaders Database,

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

. Accessed 25 July 2009.

Biography

Jones was born into a poor

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

farm family of seven in 1891. He married his childhood sweetheart, Nettie Marie Marvin in 1914. In 1920 he became an executive with the energy company Cities Service Company, serving as president from 1940 to 1953. He rose to become one of the highest-paid

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

s in the

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. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he became a hero of war production by building a secret

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production plant in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, an

aviation fuel Aviation fuels are petroleum-based fuels, or petroleum and synthetic fuel blends, used to power aircraft. They have more stringent requirements than fuels used for ground use, such as heating and road transport, and contain additives to enhanc ...

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 ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, and over 3,000 miles of

oil pipeline Pipeline transport is the long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas through a system of pipes—a pipeline—typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countr ...

s from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

to the

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that were vital to the war effort. As an important supporter of the

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, he met and became a very close personal friend of President Eisenhower. Jones was killed in the crash of American Airlines Flight 1 in

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on March 1, 1962, while on his way to join Eisenhower on a fishing trip. In 1944 he founded the

W. Alton Jones Foundation The W. Alton Jones Foundation was a charitable foundation, and a sponsor of environmental causes. It was originally involved in sponsoring the arts, particularly theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses ...

"to promote the well-being and general good of mankind the world". The foundation supported various causes, such as the arts, education, and

environmental activism The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists advo ...

, but split into three separate funds in 2001. Immediately after his death, Jones' heirs donated his private hunting and fishing retreat (which had hosted President Eisenhower and the

King of Nepal The King of Nepal (traditionally known as the Mahārājdhirāja i.e. Great King of Kings; it can also be translated as "Sovereign Emperor" ( ne, श्री ५ महाराजधिराज)) was Nepal's head of state and monarch from 1768 ...

) to the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...

, creating the W. Alton Jones Campus.Whispering Pines Conference Center
Paul and Allison's Wedding Website. Accessed 25 July 2009.

Notes

External links

W. Alton Jones Campus

The Whispering Pines Conference Center
��official site

Nettie Jones Obituary
1891 births 1962 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople People from Webb City, Missouri Businesspeople from Missouri Accidental deaths in New York (state) 20th-century American philanthropists Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1962 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States {{US-business-bio-1890s-stub

Biography

See also

Notes

External links