Warner Norton Grubb

Warner Norton Grubb (April 29, 1900 – February 13, 1947) was an American petroleum executive who served as a senior petroleum distribution officer with the U.S. Navy during World War II. He was assigned as Head of the Latin American section of the Army-Navy Petroleum Board, Tanker Control Officer for the European Theater, and finally as Executive Officer of the Allied Tanker Board. At the end of the conflict, he was promoted to Commodore and awarded the Legion of Merit.

Biography

W. Norton Grubb was born in Philadelphia and was the son of Edith (Norton) and Warner Grubb, a forman for the Fells Soap company. After graduation from South Philadelphia High School in 1917, Norton served briefly as a seaman in the Navy Reserves during World War I In 1920, Grubb was an alternate on the U.S. rowing team at the Antwerp Olympics. The next year, he joined the Atlantic Refining Company in Philadelphia and by 1929 was promoted to Director, Atlantic Refining of Africa. In 1931, Norton was transferred to Sydney, Australia. Two years later, he was hired by ESSO as President of the West Indies Oil Company in Latin America and later promoted as a Director in London. In October 1942, he was commissioned as a Navy lieutenant commander and assigned to Washington, D.C. as Head of the Latin American section of the Army-Navy Petroleum Board. In December 1946, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and died at age 46.