Roy M. Huffington

Roy Michael Huffington (October 4, 1917 – July 11, 2008) was an [[United States|American]] [[Petroleum|oil]]man originally from [[Tomball, Texas|Tomball]] in [[Harris County, Texas|Harris County]], [[Texas]], who later served as [[United States Ambassador to Austria]].
Early career.
Huffington was born in Tomball, Texas. He graduated from [[Southern Methodist University]] where he was a brother of the [[Alpha Tau Omega]] fraternity. He earned both [[Master of Arts]] and [[Ph.D.]] degrees in [[geology]] from [[Harvard University]] in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]], [[Massachusetts]]. After serving as, first [[Ensign (rank)|ensign]] and then [[lieutenant commander]] in the [[United States Navy]] from 1942–1945, he returned to Texas in 1946 and worked as a field geologist for [[Humble Oil]], now known as [[Exxon]], U.S.A.
HUFFCO.
In 1956, he set up his own oil and [[natural gas]] exploration company known as Roy M. Huffington, Inc. (Huffco). Huffco grew to be a major independent international oil company active around the world. In 1966 HUFFCO signed production sharing contract with Pertamina to explore oil in the Kutai Basin of the [[Mahakam River]] delta in East Kalimantan, [[Indonesia]]. Initially the exploration object was oil, but finally Huffco discovered a giant [[natural gas]] reserve in 1972 at Badak Field. Then Huffco and Pertamina initiated to build an LNG plant in Bontang. First shipping was in August 1977, only five years after discovery.
Later career.
In 1990, all properties of the company were sold to the [[Chinese Petroleum Corporation]] of Taiwan and HUFFCO became VICO. 
From 1990 to 1993, Huffington served as Ambassador to Austria in the administration of [[U.S. President]] [[George Herbert Walker Bush]]. He then returned to [[Houston, Texas|Houston]] and resumed the position of chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Roy M. Huffington, Inc., an independent international oil company.
Philanthropy.
Roy Huffington joined the Board of the [[Salzburg Global Seminar]], an international policy center based in Salzburg, Austria, with offices in [[Washington, D.C.]], while serving as U.S. Ambassador to Austria. In 1994, he was elected chairman of the Salzburg Global Seminar Board, a position which he held until 2007. Huffington also served as the chairman of the [[Asia Society]], a New York-based charity, for seven years in the 1980s.
He also founded the [[Huffington Foundation]], a Houston-based charity.
He and his wife, the former Phyllis Gough, who died in 2003, created the Huffington Center on Aging at the [[Baylor College of Medicine]] in Houston.
Huffington, having been a member of the [[Alpha Tau Omega]] fraternity at SMU, donated a significant (undisclosed) amount of money to the Alpha Tau Omega Educational Foundation, which provides collegiate scholarships for undergraduate members of the fraternity.
Personal life.
Roy and Phyllis Huffington had two children: Terry Dittman, whose family lives in Houston, and [[Michael Huffington]] (born 1947), who was a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. representative]] from [[California]] from 1993-1995. In 1994, Michael Huffington narrowly lost the election for the [[United States Senate]] to [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[Dianne Feinstein]]. Michael Huffington was married to [[Arianna Huffington]] from 1986-1997. Arianna Huffington, an unsuccessful candidate for [[governor of California]] in the 2003 [[recall election]], is the founder of the "[[Huffington Post]]".
Roy Huffington died of natural causes in [[Venice, Italy]].
External links.
[[Category:1917 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:American businesspeople in the oil industry]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Austria]]
[[Category:Burials at Glenwood Cemetery (Houston, Texas)]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Huffington family]]
[[Category:Southern Methodist University alumni]]
[[Category:United States Navy officers]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:People from Houston]]
[[Category:Texas Republicans]]
[[Category:Henry Laurence Gantt Medal recipients]]
[[Category:20th-century American engineers]]