Christopher Chenery

Who was Christopher Chenery?

Christopher Tompkins Chenery was an American engineer, businessman, and the owner/breeder of record for Thoroughbred horse racing's U.S. Triple Crown champion Secretariat.

Chenery was born in Richmond, and raised in Ashland, Virginia. He was the brother of William L. Chenery, Editor-Publisher of Colliers Magazine. Chenery's sister was Blanche Chenery Perrin, a writer of children's books centered on horse racing, such as Born To Race. He studied at Randolph-Macon College and Washington and Lee University, graduating in 1909 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering. He then went to work in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Alaska, but his career was interrupted with service in the United States Army Corps of Engineers during World War I. After the war, Chenery established Chenery Corporation, which became the controlling shareholder of the Federal Water Service Company. He served as the water, gas, and pipeline company's president. Chenery was involved in two cases before the Supreme Court of the United States that are considered landmark cases of United States administrative law. After disbanding the Federal Water Service Co, he founded and served as president and chairman of the board of another utility, the Southern Natural Gas Co. later Sonat, eventually purchased by the El Paso Corp. In the 1950s, he purchased Danziger Oil and used it to create the Offshore Production Corp. one of the first offshore drilling companies.