Zeb Mayhew ’37

ZEB MAYHEW, PETROLEUM GEOLOGIST, wood worker, and sailor, died June 15, 1994, in Atlanta of Alzheimer's. He left his wife of 52 years, Ruby; sons Zeb Jr. and Jonathan; daughter Sheridan; five grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

At St. Paul's, Zeb was head editor of HORAE SCHOLASTICAE, a member of the student council, and on the club hockey and football teams; he graduated cum laude. He majored in geology at Princeton and was manager of the Princeton Travel Bureau and senior manager of Colonial Club.

Zeb started off in the drilling department of Humble Oil and Refining Co. in Louisiana, while also taking graduate courses at Louisiana St. In 1939, he shifted to Venezuela and the Creole Petroleum Corp. for 14 years (becoming an assistant district supervisor in 1952).

In 1942, he married Ruby in a tent. They also lived in a tent at first, before acquiring a house with a vegetable garden. The next move, in 1953, was to Greenwich, Conn., when Zeb became regional purchasing coordinator for Latin America for Standard Oil of New Jersey, working in N.Y.C. He later became deputy coordinator of worldwide production. In 1961, he became director and executive v.p. of Intl. Petroleum Co. in Coral Gables. In 1964, he became president of Esso Exploration, an affiliate of Standard Oil. He retired in 1972 for health reasons.

Zeb was a former chairman of the Oak Alley Foundation. His stints in Connecticut interested him in sailing and he bought a 28-foot auxiliary yawl Triton, the BELANDRA. He was also vice-chairman of the Triton Assn. of Long Island.