John Robert Suman

John Robert Suman (April 9, 1890, Daleville, Indiana – January 5, 1972, Houston, Texas) was a geologist, petroleum engineer, and business executive.

Biography As a child, John R. Suman emigrated with his family from Indiana to Southern California. After completing high school he matriculated at the University of Southern California. He transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated from the Mining College with honors in 1912. After graduation he worked as an assistant geologist for the Houston-based Rio Bravo Oil Company, a Southern Pacific Railroad Company subsidiary and William Kennedy, who in the early 1890s was the primary petroleum geologist working on the Texas Coastal Plain. After one year working for Rio Bravo, Suman was promoted of chief engineer. In 1917 he resigned from Rio Bravo and joined Roxana Petroleum Company, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell. For two years he worked for Roxana Petroleum as technical superintendent for the company's operations in Texas and Louisiana. In 1919 he rejoined Rio Bravo as an assistant to the vice-president. He was promoted to general manager in 1925 and resigned from Rio Bravo in 1927. In 1923 he, along with several colleagues, formed the Houston Geological Society and served for two years as the Society's first president. In 1958 he won the John Fritz Medal.

On December 16, 1912, he married Beatrice Mary Mowers (1888–1976). They had two sons, John Robert Suman Jr. (1916–2004) and Richard Harlan Suman (1917–1999). Both sons had careers in the petroleum industry.

Selected publications