Sam J. Cerny* served as past-president and CEO of Grace Petroleum Corp., a subsidiary of Dallas-based Grace Energy Corp., whose parent is W.R. Grace & Co. He was born and raised in Enid and received his B.S. in geological engineering from OU in 1955. He was employed by Shell Oil Co. seven years as a field exploitation engineer and later as a reservoir engineer. From 1962 to 1965, he served as a consultant and reservoir engineer for Ramsey Engineering and later opened his own office as a consultant and reservoir engineer. In 1965, he joined Cleary Petroleum Corp. in Oklahoma City as vice president of production and in 1972 was promoted to executive vice president and elected to the board of directors. Cleary Petroleum was acquired by W. R. Grace in 1973.
1994
James A. Close* retired from Flo-Bend in December 1973 and started his own company, originally called Star Equipment, later known as Close-Bend Inc. He served on the advisory council for the Salvation Army, and as treasurer for the west Tulsa branch. In 1990, Mr. Close was the recipient of the Army’s highest honor, the William Booth Award. He was an avid supporter of several charitable organizations, including the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Big Brothers and Big Sisters and Boy Scouts of America. Close was a member of the Tulsa Area Manufacturers Association, the National Federation of Independent Business, the American Society for Metals and the Oklahoma Society of Professional Engineers. Close earned his B.S. in mechanical engineering in 1943.
Robert W. Hughes received his B.S. in chemical engineering at OU in 1958. He moved to Austin in 1962 following graduation with an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He was employed by a venture capital company, Texas Capital Corp., serving as vice president until 1968. Hughes then helped form Communications Properties Inc. He served as vice president of finance until 1974, at which time he became president. Communications Properties grew to be the seventh largest cable TV company in the United States, at which time it was sold to the Times Mirror Corp. in 1979. That same year, Hughes founded a new cable TV company, Prime Cable Corp., serving as chairman and CEO. By 1995, Prime had become one of the eight largest companies in the cable television industry, with over 1 million subscribers in six states. Hughes currently serves as chairman of Prime II Investments.
Garman O. Kimmell* received his B.S. in petroleum engineering in 1936 and his M.S. at OU in 1937. He went to work that same year for Black, Sivalls and Bryson Inc. He worked there for 11 years and in 1948, he and Gwynn Raymond started Kimray Inc., a manufacturer of oil and gas equipment and controls. Kimmell bought Raymond out in 1950. Today, Kimray has 180 employees with annual sales averaging $25 million. Kimmell held 28 patents and was involved in the development of orthopedic devices, artificial kidneys, blood pumps and artificial heart valves as well as all the firm’s oil field pumps, valves and thermostats. He served on the boards of First Lutheran Church, Scope Ministries, Oklahoma Council for History Education and Research Council Baptist Hospital.
Jere W. McKenny, retired president and chief operating officer of Kerr-McGee Corp., was born in Okmulgee, in 1929. He received both a B.S. in 1951 and an M.S. in 1953 in geological engineering from OU. In 1959, he was named division exploration manager of Kerr-McGee, based in Amarillo, Texas. He returned to Oklahoma City in 1965 as chief operations geologist and became superintendent of domestic oil and gas exploration in 1967. He was named manager of the oil and gas exploration division in 1969, then promoted to vice president of exploration in 1974. He was elected vice chairman of Kerr-McGee’s Board of Directors in 1977 and president of the corporation in 1983. In 1984 he was named chief operating officer as well as president.
Robert M. Nerem received his B.S. in aeronautical engineering in 1959 from OU. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from The Ohio State University in 1961 and 1964, respectively. In 1964 he joined the faculty of The Ohio State University as an assistant professor in the Department of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. In 1968, he was promoted to associate professor and to professor in 1972. He moved to the University of Houston in 1979 as professor and chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and held this position until 1987. Since 1987, he has held the Parker H. Petit Distinguished Chair of Engineering in Medicine at the Georgia Institute of Technology.