Robert Orville Anderson

Who was Robert Orville Anderson?

Robert Orville Anderson was an American business leader, legendary wildcatter and philanthropist who founded Atlantic Richfield Oil Co. through the 1966 merger of the Atlantic and Richfield oil companies and was Arco's chairman for two decades. Anderson used his clout to support an array of major cultural organizations, from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to Harper's Magazine. He died December 2, 2007 at his home in Roswell, New Mexico.

Anderson turned Arco into the United States' sixth-largest oil company by the time he left in 1986 to pursue other interests. He was by then the largest individual landowner in the United States, with ranches and other holdings in Texas and New Mexico amounting to some 2,000 square miles and a personal fortune estimated at $200 million.