Representative John Schiller Wold

John Schiller Wold (August 31, 1916 – February 19, 2017) was an American business executive, professional geologist, philanthropist, World War II veteran, and Republican politician from Wyoming. He was born in East Orange, New Jersey, on August 31, 1916. His father, Peter Irving Wold, was chairman of the Department of Physics at Union College in Schenectady, New York. The elder Wold and his five sisters had grown up in Eugene, Oregon, and all earned their degrees at the University of Oregon, establishing a strong family tradition of higher education and scientific training that would shape John Wold’s own career.

Wold was educated in the East and followed his father’s academic path into the sciences. He graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York, in 1938 and went on to earn a degree in geology from Cornell University in 1939. His formal training in geology later distinguished him in national public life; he would become the first professional geologist ever to serve in the United States Congress. During World War II, Wold served in the United States Navy as a consulting physicist and gunnery officer, applying his scientific background to military service at a time when technical expertise was in high demand.

After the war, Wold embarked on a career in the energy industry. In 1949, he moved to Wyoming to work for an oil company, settling in Casper, which would remain his home for the rest of his life. Demonstrating entrepreneurial initiative, he founded his own firm, Wold Oil Properties, Inc., in Casper in 1950. Through this company he became a prominent figure in Wyoming’s oil, gas, and mineral sectors, building a successful business that would later be recognized as a major contributor to the state’s natural resources economy.

Wold entered elective politics in the 1950s. In 1956, he won a seat in the Wyoming House of Representatives and served one term from 1957 to 1959. He subsequently rose in party leadership, serving as chairman of the Wyoming Republican Party from 1960 to 1964. In 1964, he sought federal office as the Republican nominee for the United States Senate, challenging freshman Democratic incumbent Gale McGee. Wold lost that race by a margin of 54 percent to 46 percent but remained an influential figure in state Republican politics and continued to build his business interests.

In 1968, Wold ran for the United States House of Representatives from Wyoming’s at-large congressional district. He narrowly defeated former Representative William Henry Harrison in the Republican primary and then won a decisive victory in the general election. A member of the Republican Party, he served a single term in the Ninety-first Congress from January 3, 1969, to January 3, 1971. During this period, a significant era in American history marked by the Vietnam War, social change, and evolving energy policy, Wold contributed to the legislative process, participated in the democratic deliberations of the House of Representatives, and represented the interests of his Wyoming constituents. His presence in Congress was notable for his professional geological background, which informed his perspective on natural resources and energy issues.

Rather than seek reelection to the House in 1970, Wold gave up his seat to make a second bid for the United States Senate, again challenging incumbent Senator Gale McGee. In that contest he was defeated by a 56 percent to 44 percent margin and subsequently returned to the private sector. Although he did not hold public office again, he remained active in Republican politics as a significant political donor and continued to play a role in public affairs through his business and philanthropic activities.

In his later years, Wold became widely known for his philanthropy, much of it directed toward educational and medical institutions. In 1999, the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming named him “Wyoming Citizen of the Century” in the minerals, gas, and oil category, recognizing his impact on the state’s energy industry. In 2002, he and his wife Jane made a $20 million donation to his alma mater, Union College, at that time the largest single contribution in the college’s history. He also contributed $2 million to Cornell University, further supporting the institutions that had shaped his scientific and professional formation. Wold and his eponymous foundation gave $7.5 million to the Casey Eye Institute at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon, to establish a center dedicated to combating adult blindness caused by macular degeneration, a disease from which he had suffered for the last two decades of his life. He later made an additional $5 million gift to Union College in memory of his wife, Jane.

John Schiller Wold died in Casper, Wyoming, on February 19, 2017, at the age of 100. His long life spanned service in World War II, leadership in Wyoming’s energy sector, and a brief but notable tenure in the United States Congress as its first professional geologist. Wold Oil Properties, the company he founded in 1950, continued under family leadership after his death, operated by his son Peter, while another son, Jack, became chief executive officer of an energy company based in Denver, Colorado.