Leon Hess
| Leon Hess | |
|---|---|
Leon Hess in 1999
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| Born |
Leon Hess March 14, 1914 Asbury Park, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | May 7, 1999 (aged 85) New York, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | United States |
| Occupation | Founder of the Hess Corporation Owner of the New York Jets |
| Spouse(s) | Norma Wilentz |
| Children | Marlene Hess Zirin Constance H. Williams John B. Hess |
Leon Hess (March 14, 1914 – May 7, 1999) was the founder of the Hess Corporation and the owner of the New York Jets.
Hess was born on March 14, 1914 to a Jewish family in Asbury Park, New Jersey. His parents were Ethel and Mores Hess, who was a kosher butcher who emigrated from Lithuania and - after arriving in the United States - worked as an oil delivery man in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Hess worked as a driver for his father's company and - after it went bankrupt in 1933 during the Great Depression - he reorganized the company. He built an oil terminal in Perth Amboy, New Jersey out of old oil tankers and aggressively underbid his competitors to win Federal oil contracts. He served in World War II, rising to the rank of Major, and serving as the fuel supply officer for General George S. Patton where he further developed his logistical expertise.
After the war, using an innovative network of smaller terminals, Hess' success continued. In the late 1950s, he built his first refinery; and in 1960, he opened a chain of gas stations. In the early 1960s he built the world's largest oil refinery at the time on St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands in order to take advantage of federal tax benefits. The refinery was able to secure foreign refiner status (allowing it to circumvent the federal rule that required the use of higher-cost U.S.-flagged vessels when shipping oil to the East Coast) while also receiving subsidies from the United States Department of Energy as a domestic refinery. In 1963, his company, Hess Oil and Chemical, went public. In 1969, using the proceeds from the Hess sale, he acquired the Amerada Petroleum Corporation, one of the largest producers of crude oil in the United States and - as part of the purchase - merged it with his former company, Hess Oil and Chemical - to form the Amerada Hess Corporation. Hess served as chairman and CEO of Amerada Hess until 1995.
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