Necrology

Donald Allen Hamilton, Jr. '54

Nov. 13, 1932-Apr. 24, 2024

Donald Allen Hamilton, Jr. ’54 died on April 24, 2024, at his home in Clearwater, Fla. Born in Batavia, N.Y., on Nov. 13, 1932, he came to Hamilton from Bennett High School in Buffalo. On the Hill, he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and majored in history and psychology. At graduation, he was awarded the Putnam Prize in History, an award that provides books for the senior who has the second-most distinguished record in at least four courses in American history. 

In tandem with his studies, Don began his tenure as a manager of the basketball team in his first year and rose through the ranks to become head manager as a senior. During his freshman and sophomore years, he was also a cheerleader. He was a member of the track team starting as a sophomore and continuing through his final year. He joined the Anglican Society as a junior and senior, and also in his final year was in the Spanish Club and on The Hamiltonian staff.

In August 1955, Don enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving for 19 months in Germany. Following his honorable discharge as a specialist 3 in July 1957, he began a 49-year career in the petroleum industry. On Oct. 12 of that year, he married Olive Claire Gibson, known to many as “Polly,” in her hometown of Harrisonburg, La. They would have two sons. 

Don’s first job was with the Arkansas Fuel Oil Corp., in Shreveport, La. By 1961, he was working for Cities Service Gas Co. in Oklahoma City as assistant treasurer. He later relocated to Tulsa where, in May 1975, he became the company’s manager of supply and distribution for the refined products division. Tulsa remained the family’s home until his retirement in 2006. 

In 1976, Don graduated from Pennsylvania State University’s executive management program. Thereafter, as he reported in 2004 in his 50th reunion yearbook, he “traveled the world marketing or purchasing crude oil, refined products, refinery by-products and feedstocks, and in recent years shar[ed] my knowledge of petroleum coke at international fuels conferences and seminars.” Toward the end of his career, he had a major achievement: he played a significant role in the creation of a CITGO subsidiary, TCP Petcoke Corp., which produces fuel-grade petroleum coke for export around the world.

Even with a busy schedule, Don was engaged in the life of Tulsa. As his sons were growing up, he was active in the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Junior Achievement, where for a time he served as director and later as president. He was also active in his neighborhood’s Presbyterian Church, at different times serving as an elder, deacon, trustee, and elder trustee. 

A devotee of opera, he was president of the board of Tulsa Opera, Inc., during a challenging time. The Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra that played during the opera company’s productions had folded due to financial exigencies in 2002. For the opera to continue, it would have to establish its own orchestra, then a rare undertaking for a company in a comparatively small city. Don assumed the board presidency in 2003 and served for five years, and the Tulsa Opera weathered the financial storm. For some time thereafter, he remained on its board of directors and also served on the boards of other nonprofit organizations, including Young Life, the Tulsa Boys Home, and the Children’s Day Nursery. 

Following his retirement, Don relocated with Polly to Safety Harbor, Fla. From there, they traveled to Europe on at least one occasion. They resided in the Regency Oaks retirement community where Don again assumed positions of leadership, both on the board of the Regency Oaks Residents Organization and as chair of its finance, health, and safety committee.

For Don, as for many alumni, Hamilton provided essential formative experiences. In 2004, for his entry in the 50th reunion yearbook, he described the College’s impact upon him: “I would not have had the rewarding and interesting petroleum industry career if I had not been a generalist — the product of a liberal arts education.” He cited public speaking courses as well as those in Spanish as being beneficial, the latter particularly after CITGO was acquired by a Venezuelan petroleum corporation. His chemistry classes, his “hardest courses,” were foundational given his work assignments and related responsibilities. It was at Hamilton that he “gained from the important credo of always giving something of oneself back to the community.”

Don was a regular contributor to the Hamilton Fund and, with other family members who are alumni of the College, established the Donald A. Hamilton, Class of 1924, Prize Scholarship in honor of his father, to be awarded to a junior who has displayed leadership, creativity, and determination in the classroom and in extracurricular activities, and who has made exceptional academic improvement in the previous year.

Donald A. Hamilton, Jr.’s family included several generations of alumni, the oldest on his mother’s side being his great-great uncle Frank F. Ellenwood, an 1849 alumnus. In addition to his father, he was predeceased by his uncle, John Dayton Hamilton, Class of 1922, brother-in-law Pete Steinwedell '54, P'81, and by his son. He is survived by his wife, a son, three grandchildren, and nephew Dave Steinwedell ’81.

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