RAWLEIGH WARNER

1921 - 2013

WARNER--Rawleigh, Jr., a retired Chairman of Mobil Oil Corporation, died June 26 in Hobe Sound, Florida. Cause of death was complications from IBM (Inclusion Body Myositis). Mr. Warner was born on February 13, 1921 in Chicago, Illinois and grew up first in Evanston and then in Winnetka, both suburbs of Chicago. His parents were Rawleigh Warner and Dorothy Haskins Warner. He first attended Lake Forest Academy, then Lawrenceville School in New Jersey and finally Princeton. Following his graduation from Princeton University in 1943, Mr. Warner entered the Army of the United States where he served in the Field Artillery with the 10th Mountain Division in Italy. He was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, eventually leaving the Army as Captain in 1946. Prior to joining Mobil, Mr. Warner worked for CONOCO for five years. Mr. Warner joined Socony Vacuum Company, which later became Mobil Oil Corporation, in the Treasurer's Office in 1953. On January 1, 1965 he was elected President of Mobil Oil Corporation and in 1969, became Chairman and CEO. He retired in 1986. When asked what he thought was the most significant contribution he made to Mobil, he said, "the introduction of a concerted exercise in Executive Development throughout the entire organization". This involved the Executive Committee and all groups below. Over the years, this activity helped to produce a strong team of young maturing executives. Mr. Warner was also instrumental in the development and support of Masterpiece Theater on the Public Broadcasting System, Advocacy Advertising in certain newspapers and magazines, answering many critics of the industry and the modern design of Mobil stations along with the Corporation's logo with the red "O" in Mobil. This later activity was instrumental in letting the public, and particularly Mobil's customers, know that Mobil was a distinctly different and more modern company than that which they had come to know in earlier years. Mr. Warner was a term trustee of Princeton University from 1968 to 1972. He received an Honorary Degree in 1984. From 1981 to 1986 he was Chairman of the Corporation and Foundation Sections of the $53 million campaign and a member of the Resources Committee from 1981 to 1996 for Princeton. He was also a Trustee of Barnard College, Lawrenceville School and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He also received Honorary Degrees from Marietta College in Ohio and Pace University. He served on the Business Roundtable, was chairman of the American Petroleum Institute from which he received their Gold Medal Award, was General Campaign Chairman of the United Fund of Greater New York, member (by Presidential appointment) of the President's Committee for the Arts and served as a Director of American Express, American Telephone and Telegraph, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Caterpillar Inc., Chemical Bank, Honeywell, Inc. and Time, Inc. As one of the original Trustees of the Kennedy Center he helped create what is now known as the Kennedy Center. Mr. Warner is survived by his wife, Mary Ann deClairmont Warner, of 66 years, two daughters: Alison (Mrs. Percy R. Pyne, IV), Suzanne (Mrs. Robert W. Parsons), four grandchildren: Rebecca Parsons Bartels, Amalia Pyne Sykes, Rawleigh Warner Pyne, Emily Parsons Talamo, four great grandsons: Graham Howland Bartels, Warner Rutherfurd Talamo, Charles Robert Bartels, and Rawleigh Macrae Sykes and two sisters: Mrs. Dorothy Sills of Wilmette, Illinois and Mrs. Suzanne Kenly of Winnetka, Illinois. He was predeceased by his Mother and Father and by his older sister, Mrs. Mary Clifford.