Introduction
John Schiller Wold (August 31, 1916 – February 19, 2017) was an American business leader and Republican politician from Wyoming who served a single term in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1971. He was the first professional geologist to have served in Congress. He turned 100 in August 2016. Wold died on February 19, 2017 at the age of 100.
Biography
A Brother of the Alpha Delta Phi, Wold earned degrees from Union College in Schenectady, New York in 1938 and Cornell University in 1939. During World War II, he served as a consulting physicist and gunnery officer for the U.S. Navy.
Wold served in the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1957 to 1959 and was the state's Republican chairman from 1960 to 1964. In 1964, he ran for the U.S. Senate against freshman incumbent Democrat Gale McGee, who won by a 54% to 46% margin. In 1968, he narrowly defeated on-again, off-again Congressman William Henry Harrison in the Republican primary before winning a decisive general election victory. Two years later, he gave up his House seat to run against incumbent Sen. Gale McGee again. He lost the race by 56% to 44% and returned to the private sector, but has remained active as a Republican political donor.
Wold was the founder of Wold Oil Properties, Inc., in Casper, Wyoming. The company is, as of 2016, operated by his sons. In 2002, Wold made a $20 million donation to his alma mater, Union College—the biggest in its history. Wold's father, Peter Wold, was a professor of physics at Union College from 1920 to 1945. The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming named Wold as the "Wyoming Citizen of the Century" in the minerals, gas, and oil category in 1999.