Eugene Isenberg, who had headed the world’s largest land and offshore platform driller, died March 16, 2014. He was 84.
Isenberg graduated from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1950, and earned a master’s degree in economics from Princeton in 1952. He also completed the program for senior executives at MIT.
He began his business career with Exxon, and later became chairman and principal shareholder of Genimar, a steel building-products company. From 1987 to 2011, he was CEO and board chairman of Nabors Industries. In this period, Nabors grew from a 320-employee Alaska-based drilling company to the world’s largest land and offshore platform driller, currently employing 29,000.
Isenberg was on the boards of the National Association of Securities Dealers and the American Stock Exchange, and was a member of the National Petroleum Council. He endowed three professorships in environmental science, technology management, and engineering at UMass-Amherst, where the Isenberg School of Management is situated. He and his wife were instrumental in founding the Parkside School on West 74th Street in New York City, which provides special education to elementary school children.
He is survived by his wife, Ronnie; two daughters; and three grandchildren.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.