Founder
Leslie B. Lampton, businessman, philanthropist and founder of Ergon, the energy-based company he established in 1954. He passed away Tuesday, April 17th, 2018, of natural causes at his home in Jackson, Mississippi. He was 92 years old.
After serving in the Navy during World War II, graduating from Ole Miss, and then serving again in the Navy during the Korean conflict, Mr. Lampton returned to his hometown of Jackson, Mississippi, with a plan to enter the oil business. With the support of his bride, the former Dorothy Lee Crum, Mr. Lampton embarked on a business career spanning 64 years that would see him at the helm of Ergon, a diversified empire that provides jobs to over 2,600 employees in Mississippi, 29 other states, and several other countries. While other businesses were moving to Texas during the oil boom years, Mr. Lampton made a commitment to remain in Mississippi, his home state.
He was a friend to many, but he was most comfortable talking with his employees, the persons he acknowledged as the success behind Ergon. He had a knack for hiring good people. He supported his employees in taking risks necessary for businesses to succeed, whether entering new markets or developing new products. He always reminded the employees that it was not all about profits. Mr. Lampton believed that you had to enjoy what you were doing in order to be successful in life.
Mr. Lampton had a gift for remembering the names of his employees and knowing something about their families. He was generous and supported activities for the children of his employees, from establishing academic scholarships to buying Girl Scout cookies. He also supported worthwhile charitable organizations in the communities where Ergon has a presence. Countless medical, educational and religious organizations have been the beneficiaries of his altruism.
Mr. Lampton preferred not to seek any recognition for his charitable donations, telling others who wanted to use his name that he was just doing what the Lord asked all of us to do. Mr. Lampton was a member of the Catholic Church, and his faith was the guiding influence in his life.
Sunoco LP is an American master limited partnership organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Dating back to 1886, the company has transitioned from a vertically integrated energy company to a distributor of fuels. It was previously engaged in oil, natural gas exploration and production, refining, chemical manufacturing, and retail fuel sales, but divested these businesses. Sunoco is the largest independent distributor of fuels in the United States.
Koch Industries, Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas, and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiaries are involved in the manufacturing, refining, and distribution of petroleum, chemicals, energy, fiber, intermediates and polymers, minerals, fertilizer, pulp and paper, chemical technology equipment, cloud computing, finance, raw materials trading, and investments. Koch owns Flint Hills Resources, Georgia-Pacific, Guardian Industries, Infor, Invista, KBX, Koch Ag & Energy Solutions, Koch Engineered Solutions, Koch Investments Group, Koch Minerals & Trading, and Molex. The firm employs 122,000 people in 60 countries, with about half of its business in the United States.
Valero Energy Corporation is an American-based downstream petroleum company mostly involved in manufacturing and marketing transportation fuels, other petrochemical products, and power. It is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Throughout the United States and Canada, the company owns and operates 15 refineries, and one in Wales, with a combined throughput capacity of approximately 3 million barrels (480,000 m3) per day, 11 ethanol plants with a combined production capacity of 1.2 billion US gallons (4,500,000 m3) per year, and a 50-megawatt wind farm. A Fortune 500 company, before the 2013 spinoff of CST Brands, Valero was one of the United States' largest retail operators with approximately 6,800 retail and branded wholesale outlets in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Mexico and Peru under the Valero, Diamond Shamrock, Shamrock, Beacon, and Texaco brands. It is largest independent petroleum refiner and marketer in North America.
Husky Energy Inc. was a Canadian company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It operates in Western and Atlantic Canada, the United States and the Asia Pacific region, with upstream and downstream business segments. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Husky Energy was ranked as the 1443rd-largest public company in the world.
Marathon Petroleum Corporation is an American petroleum refining, marketing, and transportation company headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil until a corporate spin-off in 2011.
Phillips Petroleum Company was an American oil company incorporated in 1917 that expanded into petroleum refining, marketing and transportation, natural gas gathering and the chemicals sectors. It was Phillips Petroleum that first found oil in the North Sea on December 23, 1969, at a position that was later named Ekofisk.
Ashland Inc. is an American chemical company headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware. The company traces its roots back to the city of Ashland, Kentucky, where it was headquartered from 1924 to 1999. The company has five wholly owned divisions, which include Chemical Intermediates and Solvents, Composites, Industrial Specialties, Personal and Home Care, & Pharmaceuticals, Food and Beverage, and Agriculture. Until 2017, the company was the primary manufacturer of Valvoline.
RaceTrac Inc. is an American corporation that operates a chain of gasoline service stations across the Southern United States. In 2023, Forbes ranked RaceTrac Inc. as the 18th largest private company in the United States and ranked 22 with an annual revenue of $19.72 billion.
James Richardson & Sons Limited (JRSL) is a privately-held corporation in Canada that is involved in several industries including agriculture, energy, real estate, financial services, investments, and transportation.
TransMontaigneGP LLC., formerly NYSE:TMG, is an oil pipeline and terminal company based in Denver, Colorado. In 2006, it was the 269th largest company in the United States and as of 2012 it was the 17th largest privately owned company. On September 1, 2006, it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, and subsequently delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. In 2014, Morgan Stanley sold TransMontaigne to NGL Energy. In February 2016 NGL sold TransMontaigne GP LLC to ArcLight Capital Partners for $350 million in cash with Gulf TLP Holdings LLC an affiliate of ArcLight holding a controlling interest.
Delek US Holdings, Inc. is a diversified downstream energy company with assets in petroleum refining, logistics, asphalt, renewable fuels and convenience store retailing headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee.
SemGroup Corporation was a publicly-traded company engaged in natural gas, petroleum, and propane pipeline transport. It was organized in Delaware and headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In December 2019, the company was acquired by Energy Transfer LP.
Lion Oil Company is a private corporation engaged in refining and production of oil, gasoline, and oil-based products. It also manufactures asphalt, industrial solvents and roofing materials. It also operates a gathering and transportation system that moves oil products in interstate commerce. The company is based in Arkansas.
Mitsui & Co., Ltd. is one of the largest sogo shosha in Japan; it is part of the Mitsui Group.
Western Refining, Inc., is a Texas-based Fortune 200 and Global 2000 crude oil refiner and marketer operating primarily in the Southwestern, North-Central and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. Western Refining (WNR) has been publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange since January 2006 and is the fourth largest publicly traded independent refiner and marketer in the nation.
Vitol Kompany is a Swiss-based Dutch multinational energy and commodity trading company that was founded in Rotterdam in 1966 by Henk Viëtor and Jacques Detiger. Though trading, logistics and distribution are at the core of its business, these are notably complemented by refining, shipping, terminals, exploration and production, power generation, and retail businesses. Vitol has over 40 offices worldwide, with its largest operations in Geneva, Houston, London, and Singapore.
Coastal Corporation was a diversified energy and petroleum products company headquartered at 9 Greenway Plaza in Greenway Plaza, Houston, Texas. The company was founded in 1955 by Oscar Wyatt and incorporated in 1955 as Coastal States Gas Producing Company. It merged with the El Paso Corporation in 2001. As of 1999, Coastal was a Fortune 500 company with 13,300 employees and annual revenues of $8.2 billion.
The Charter Company of Jacksonville, Florida was a conglomerate with more than 180 subsidiaries that was in the Fortune 500 for 11 years beginning in 1974 and ranked 61st in 1984. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in late 1984, eventually selling off all of its businesses and purchasing Spelling Entertainment Inc. to form Spelling Entertainment Group Inc in 1992.
Kirby Corporation, headquartered in Houston, Texas is the largest tank barge operator in the United States, transporting bulk liquid products throughout the Mississippi River System, on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, along all three U.S. Coasts, and in Alaska and Hawaii. Products transported by Kirby include petrochemicals, black oil, refined petroleum products and agricultural chemical products by tank barge. Kirby also owns and operates eight ocean-going barge and tug units transporting dry-bulk commodities in United States coastwise trade.
Uzi Yemin is an Israeli-American entrepreneur, industrialist and philanthropist best known as the founder and Executive Chairman of Delek US.
