Benedict I. Lubell | |
---|---|
Born | 1909 New York City, US |
Died | December 13, 1996 (age 87) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US |
Burial place | Tulsa, Oklahoma, US |
Education | B.A. Columbia University J.D. Columbia University Law School |
Occupation | businessman |
Spouse | Norma Rubenstein |
Children | 2 |
Family | Grace Borgenicht Brandt (sister) Eli M. Black (brother-in-law) Jack Borgenicht (brother-in-law) Leon Black (nephew) |
Benedict I. Lubell (1909 – December 13, 1996) was an American oil executive and philanthropist.[1][2]
Lubell was born to a Jewish family[3] on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.[1] His father Samuel L. Lubell founded the Bell Oil and Gas Company, an independent oil refiner in Tulsa, Oklahoma[1] and Lubell Brothers, a shirt manufacturer in New York City.[4] He had two sisters: art dealer Grace Borgenicht Brandt (formerly married to Jack Borgenicht) and Shirley Black Kash (formerly married to Eli M. Black).[1] He was a graduate of Columbia College, Phi Beta Kappa, and Columbia University Law School.[1][5] After school, he practiced law in New York City at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan until 1936, when he joined the family business in Tulsa.[1] In 1965, the family sold Bell Oil and Lubell formed a new oil production company, the Lubell Oil Company, where he worked until his retirement in 1995.[1]
Lubell was a founding trustee of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, president of the Tulsa Arts Council, and head of Tulsa's Municipal Arts Commission, and served as a director of the National Bank of Tulsa.[1] In 1982, he received the Oklahoma Governor's Arts Award.[1] Lubell Park in Tulsa is named in his honor.[2]
In 1939, he married Norma Rubenstein (died 1994),[1][6] daughter of New York textile executive Jacob A. Rubenstein.[7] They had two children, Ann Lubell Margolis and John Lubell.[1][8] Lubell died at his home in Milwaukee of emphysema.[1] Services were held at Temple Israel in Tulsa.[2]