Fonds F2672 - Jack Gallagher fonds

John Edward Patrick "Smilin' Jack" Gallagher, 1916-1998, was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and attended the University of Manitoba, graduating with a degree in geology in 1937. He worked for the Geological Survey of Canada in the north, 1936-1937, before joining Shell Oil as a field geologist in California and Egypt, 1938-1939. Gallagher then joined Standard Oil of New Jersey and worked for its subsidiaries in Egypt, the Middle East, Central and South America, ending up as exploration manager in Peru in 1949. He then transferred to Calgary, Alberta to become manager of exploration for Imperial Oil for western Canada. In 1950 he established Dome Petroleum, a pioneer in the exploration for oil in the Arctic. Gallagher remained as Chief Executive Officer until 1981. Dome was later taken over by Amoco.

Gallagher was interested in Canadian politics and was active in the political movements which eventually formed the Reform Party of Canada. He held several honorary degrees and received the Order of Canada. He was on the executive of the Research Council of Alberta, Science Council of Canada, United Way, Canadian Council of Christians and Jews, and the Gallagher Library at the University of Calgary was established with his assistance. He was a director of TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce; and president of the Independent Petroleum Association of Canada (IPAC) in 1966. In 2000 he was inducted into the Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame and in 2013 into the Calgary Business Hall of Fame. Gallagher married Kathleen Marjorie Stewart, 1919-2011, and they had three sons, James Stewart, Thomas Patrick and Frederick Michael.

For further information see the entry, "Jack Gallagher", in Building a Province : 60 Alberta Lives / Brian Brennan. - Calgary : Fifth House, 2000, p.147-150.