John E. Selden ’24

John Selden, the retired chairman of Pennzoil Co., died Oct. 3, 1997, in Newtown, Pa. He was 95.

Born Jan. 28, 1902, in Oil City to an oil refiner, John was one of five children. He attended the Oil City public schools and served on the high-school newspaper before entering Princeton. He joined the varsity swimming squad, Clio Hall, and Court Club. His late brother E. Van D. was a member of the Class of '27. In 1927 he graduated from Harvard Law School and then practiced law for three years before joining the legal department of South Penn Oil Co. in Pittsburgh. He became v.p. in 1946 and president in 1956, and he saw the merger of his company with Pennzoil and the move of the headquarters to Oil City.

He retired as chairman in 1962, at which time he was also a director of the American Petroleum Institute and v.p. and director of the Natl. Petroleum Refiners' Assn. He moved to Rossmoor, N.J., and later to Newtown. His wife, Dorothy Ayers Selden, died in 1963. He is survived by a sister, Elizabeth, a brother, William '34, three nieces, two nephews, one grandniece, and six grandnephews.