William K. Warren Sr.

William K. Warren, Sr.
Born	William Kelly Warren 1897 Nashville, Tennessee
Died	1990 Tulsa, Oklahoma
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Philanthropy

William K. Warren (1897-1990), a native of Tennessee traveled to Sapulpa, Oklahoma in 1916. After working a variety of jobs in the newly booming oil industry, he created the Warren Petroleum Corporation of Delaware in 1922, which had its headquarters in Tulsa. He and his company soon became noted specialists in the production and marketing of LPG, a byproduct of petroleum refining and natural gas purification. Warren sold his company to Gulf Oil Corporation for $450 million in 1953, the largest such merger in the energy industry up to that time.

Warren then turned his attention to philanthropy. He was noted for establishing the St. Francis Hospital system in Tulsa.

Early life

William Kelly Warren (1897- 1990) was born in Nashville Tennessee to Thomas Hines and Amelia Elizabeth Cecil Warren on December 3, 1897. Little has been published about his childhood and adolescence. One source says that he dropped out of school after eighth grade because of his father's death. A brief biography, published in 1987, when the Tulsa Historical Society inducted him into its hall of fame, indicates only that he struggled with poverty during those years, and that he had jobs as "... a newspaper carrier, a Western Union messenger, a peanut vendor in a baseball park, a drug store employee, a door-to-door salesman and even a dance hall instructor." While living in Nashville, where he attended parochial schools. Apparently he decided to leave Nashville in 1915, and went to work as a railroad clerk, earning 40 dollars a month. According to the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, he befriended Myrtle (Mrs. Daniel A.) McDougal of Sapulpa, Oklahoma, who advised him to go west to seek his fortune. Warren caught a train to Sapulpa in February,1916, where he went to work briefly on a rail line serving the oil boom towns of Depew and Shamrock. That job only lasted five days, when he quit and began learning everything he could about the oil business by working a variety of jobs. he worked for Gypsy Oil Company, Gilliland Oil Company, Gulf Oil Corporation, Margay Oil Corporation, and McMan Oil and Gas Company in Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana.

Warren worked for a few years as assistant to Patrick J. Hurley, who was then vice president of Gilliland Oil Company.

Warren Petroleum Corporation

Warren resigned in 1922 to found his own oil company, Warren Petroleum Company of Delaware. He made his headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with himself and his wife as the only people on the payroll. His firm concentrated on producing and marketing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a byproduct of natural gas processing. Warren organized the Western Gasoline Company, which he reorganized as the Warren Petroleum Company of Oklahoma in 1932, and then into Warren Petroleum Corporation in 1937. In 1930, he bought the domestic gasoline production facilities of Amerada Hess Corporation. Warren Petroleum, along with Monterey Oil Company and J. R. Butler founded the Transwestern Pipeline Company on March 11, 1957. On November 10, 1953, Gulf Oil Corporation bought Warren Petroleum Corporation for $420 million dollars. The deal was called the largest exchange of money in the industry until then.

Later life and philanthropy

During a fund drive by the Tulsa Diocese, Warren agreed to donate $15,000 for St. Johns Hospital. He stipulated that no announcement of the gift would be made and that all notices should be sent to his office. He said that his wife was just as good a Methodist as he was a Catholic, and that they had agreed that whatever he gave to his church, she could make an equal donation to hers. However, an acknowledgement of the gift was sent to his home instead.

After selling his company to Gulf, Warren. devoted much of his time, energy and money to philanthropic activities. In 1945 he created the William K. Warren Foundation. The foundation gives financial support to non-profit organizations for charitable, scientific and health programs. Recipient organizations are primarily Catholic and located in and around Tulsa.

The foundation established the St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa in 1959 and Laureate Psychiatric Hospital and Clinic in 1989. The hospital opened in 1960, and was operated by the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood from 1960 to 1969, then by Sisters of Mercy of Houston, Texas. It opened the Laureate Psychiatric Clinic and Hospital in 1989.

Warren also donated generously to Notre Dame University. According to the Notre Dame website, St. Liam Hall (referring to Saint William of York) was named in honor of W. K. Warren, Sr.[7]

Legacy

William Warren, Sr. was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1961. His wife was inducted in her own right in 1969.

Marriage and family

While living in Nashville, Warren had met Natalie Overall, the daughter of a Methodist preacher The couple carried on a long distance romance while he was moving around in oil company. They finally married on September 21, 1921.

Natalie Warren died in St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa at the age of 97 on September 4, 1996.

Their son, William K. Warren, Jr., also a successful businessman and philanthropist, lives in Tulsa today.