Herbert Mee Jr.

Herbert M. (Herb) Mee, Jr. a businessman, avid golfer and life-long resident of Oklahoma City, returned home to be with the Lord after passing away in his sleep Tuesday morning, January 5th 2016. Herb was born on June 16, 1928 in Oklahoma City to Herb Mee, Sr. and Margaret Lackey Mee. Herb was preceded in death by his parents, sister, Betty Mee Cannaviello Roundtree; and his four legged kids, Mandy and Mittee. Survivors include Marlene, his beloved wife of 37 years; two sons, Michael M. Mee and his wife, Mia, of Dallas and Christopher W. Mee of Colorado Springs; a step-son, John E. James IV and his wife, Loretta, of Houston; a step-daughter, Jana Brown, and her husband, Scott of Oklahoma City, nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild". Beginning in grade school and on, Herb was an avid reader and also excelled in mathematics. From the 8th grade on Herb was a straight A student. He graduated from Harvard cum laude in 1950 with a B.A. degree in Economics, majoring in Money and Banking. After graduation, under the tutelage of his uncle, Charles H. (Harry) Mee, he became an independent petroleum landman in May of 1953. Herb said, "I was just becoming established in my new career when I joined the Army in January of 1955." Most of the next two years were spent in Virginia, with the last 18 months spent at Fort Eustis, the Headquarters of the U.S. Army Transportation Training Command. In the summer of 1956, Herb was honored as the Soldier of the Week at Fort Eustis. Herb had a life-long passion for business. His business career started at age six when he started delivering Saturday Evening Posts. At age seven he became the delivery boy for his mother's store, the Boulevard Plaza Gift Shop. Herb grew up in a banking family. His idol was his paternal grandfather, an Iowa banker, who moved to Oklahoma City in 1908 and founded the Security National Bank. Upon leaving the Army, he joined Woods Petroleum Corporation as a petroleum land man in December of 1956. He later served as the Chief Financial Officer of Woods Corp. and was instrumental in taking the company public in the mid-60's. In 1968 after the company moved to the Big Board Herb became President and in 1970 its Chief Executive Officer. Herb was also involved in developing the format for the private, and later, the public drilling programs marketed by Wood Petroleum beginning in 1964. Herb left Woods Corp. in November of 1972 to join his childhood friend, Bill Beard, as President and chief financial officer of Beard Oil Company. At that time Herb's job was to take Beard Oil public, which he accomplished in March of 1973, and to develop and market a series of private and later public drilling programs, beginning in 1974. Herb considered the highlight of his career at Beard the success of U.S. Pollution Control, Inc. (USPCI), a hazardous waste management subsidiary. USPCI had two state-of-the-art hazardous waste landfills, one in Oklahoma and one in Utah. This positioned USPCI for success when the EPA established new hazardous waste restrictions in 1984. Following EPA's action and with Herb's leadership, the company became highly profitable, made several sizeable acquisitions, and had two secondary public offerings to broaden the company's shareholder base. In the summer of 1986 USPCI listed on the Big Board. Herb took up golf at the age of 12, the sport at which he excelled. Herb played on the Classen High School golf team for three years. Herb's college goal was to go to Stanford and play on their golf team. Although he was accepted to both Stanford and Harvard Universities, he received a scholarship to Harvard and opted to go there. He always said this proved to be fortuitous because, "I probably wasn't even good enough to be a caddy at Stanford, and Harvard had a mediocre golf team." Herb played on the Harvard team all four years. Herb said the highlight of his golfing career came in 1949, when he played a match against Arnold Palmer who was playing on the Wake Forest team. Although Arnold won, Herb still has that scorecard. Herb had the honor of serving on a numerous outside corporate boards during his career. Among these were five bank boards: Founders Bank, Nichols Hills Bank, Liberty National Bank & Trust Co. and its successors, Bank of Mid-America and Bank One of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City. He also served on the boards of Transport Insurance Co. of Dallas, Gulf Coast Telephone Company of New Orleans, Treesdale, Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pa., E. F. Craven Co. of Charlotte, N.C., Alladin Plastics Co. of N.J. and Webster Wilcox Co. Herb was active socially and had the pleasure of belonging to a number of private clubs over the years, including Young Presidents Organization and the World President's Organization, the Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club, Birnam Wood Golf Club in Montecito, CA, the Economic Club of Oklahoma City, the Seventy-Five Club, the Lotus Club, the Chase Club, the Bachelors Club of Oklahoma City. In college, Herb was also a member of the Massachusetts Gama Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at Harvard. Herb was married for 37 years to Marlene Wiens Mee of Oklahoma City. Marlene and Herb shared a love of travel and traveled extensively including Egypt and the Holy Lands, Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia among other places. They also loved to entertain and to socialize with friends and family. They hosted social events and receptions in their home including Ronald Reagan and later Maureen Reagan during the presidential campaigns. They also shared a passion for their four legged kids, the OKC Thunder Basketball team, and OU football. Herb was also lifelong Dallas Cowboy fan.