John "Jack" Roderick

John R. Roderick (March 16, 1926 – October 19, 2020) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the mayor of Anchorage, Alaska from 1972 to 1975.

Early life and education Originally from Seattle, Washington, Roderick was the son of a Presbyterian preacher who served in France during World War I. His parents divorced when he was 11 years old. In an interview, he stated that he was not born to work in a big city and he wanted to be his own person. During his formative years, he continued to play football at Yale University. He volunteered to join the Navy Air Corps during WWII. He was described in the newspaper as a brilliant football player.

Roderick furthered his education by attending the University of Washington, School of Law, graduating with a J.D. in 1959. Family and friends gathered at his house in Anchorage to find out the status of his health. He delivered goods and milk to the North Slope, and in one of those trips he had the idea of starting an oil scouting business called Alaska Scouting Service, later turning it into an enterprise of many businesses: Alaska Abstract Service, Petroleum Publications, Inc., Alaska Petroleum Directory, Alaska Map Service, Van Cleve Printing Company, Alaska Industry magazine, Alaska Title Guaranty Company, Alaska Pacific Capital Corporation (SBIC), and oil exploration companies, Ivy, Inc. (oil & gas leasing). Later, in 1964, it turned into Alaska Exploration Corporation (geological, leasing and exploration). Another of his many accomplishments was Deputy commissioner of State Department of Natural Resources from 1976 to 1978,

After attending Harvard Kennedy School, he became the Alaska State Energy Director, a member of the Oil and Gas Royalty Development Advisory Board in 1984–85. He became Chairman of the Alaska Democratic Party from1985-88. In 1980–81, he began to research information to write his book Crude Dreams: A Personal History of Oil and Politics in Alaska that was finished and published by Epicenter Press in 1997.