Waite Phillips

Waite Phillips (January 19, 1883 – January 27, 1964) was an American petroleum businessman who created a fully integrated operation that combined petroleum producing, refining and marketing. With headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he also developed several office complexes and engaged in banking and ranching. Phillips was a philanthropist for both local Tulsa institutions and national causes. In Tulsa he built a 72-room mansion for his residence, which he later donated to the city; it became the Philbrook Museum of Art. He gave 127,000 acres (510 km²) of his favorite ranch in New Mexico to the Boy Scouts of America, together with an office building as part of its endowment. The ranch is now Philmont Scout Ranch, one of the largest youth camps in the world. Phillips also made a substantial bequest to the University of Southern California, which named a building after him.

Waite Phillips and his identical twin brother Wiate were born near Conway, Iowa to Civil War veteran Lewis "Lew" Franklin Phillips and Lucinda Josephine "Josie" Faucett Phillips. Waite, the younger twin, was the 7th of 10 children born into the Phillips family.

In 1899, at age 16, Waite and Wiate left the 40-acre (160,000 m²) farm they called home, boarded a train and headed west. Their travels took them to most of the western and midwestern United States and parts of Canada. To support themselves, they worked a variety of jobs in fields such as railroad building, mining and lumbering, and spent one winter trapping fur animals in the Bitterroot Mountains. Their adventure came to an end in Spokane, Washington on July 16, 1902 when Wiate died as a result of acute appendicitis.

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