John SchillerWold

John SchillerWold

This photograph of John Schiller Wold was found with the photographs labeled Alumni. John Schiller Wold was a business leader who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 – 1971. He holds the distinction of being the first professional geologist to serve in Congress. Wold founded or directed several business ventures based on extraction of oil, gas, coal, uranium and soda ash. He also purchased the historically famous Hold-in-the-Wall Ranch in Johnson County and maintained the well known black Angus cow/calf operation. Wold served in the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1957 to 1959 and was the state’s Republican chairman from 1960 to 1964. During World War II, he served as a consulting physicist and gunnery officer for the U.S. Navy. He and wife, Jane established the Help Yourself Foundation, an after-school program to teach science to elementary school students in partnership with Casper College and NCSD #1. They also funded an endowed John and Jane Wold Chair of Energy in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Wyoming. The Wolds made an additional $2 million donation to Cornell University to fund the Wold Chair of Environmental Balance, which they hoped would advance John’s philosophy of utilizing natural resources while protecting the natural environment. John and Jane Wold donated money to build the Wold Science Building at Casper College. The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming named Wold ‘Wyoming Citizen of the Century’ in the minerals, gas and oil category in 1999.

Photographic print