Fred L. Hartley, chairman emeritus and retired chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Unocal Corp., died Oct. 19 in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. He was 73.
A native of British Columbia, Hartley joined Unocal in 1939 shortly after graduating from the University of British Columbia with a chemical engineering degree. After being promoted to research engineer at the company's Los Angeles refinery, he helped design, patent, and operate various processing plants.
Hartley in 1953 launched a program to sell and license Unocal technology to other companies. He was promoted to vice-president for research in 1956 and to senior vice-president in 1960. In 1964 Unocal named him president and chief executive officer and in 1974 chairman of the board.
Hartley promoted worldwide licensing of Unocal's patented hydrocracking technology, Unicracking.
Under Hartley, the company also pioneered development of oil shale and geothermal power.
In the early 1980s, Hartley led the effort to build Unocal's oil shale project at Parachute, Colo., the first commercial scale oil shale plant in the U.S. Since 1986, Unocal has been producing shale oil from its Parachute plant.
Unocal is the world's largest producer of geothermal power, generating 24 million kw-hr/day of electricity.
Hartley retired from Unocal in 1988 but remained chairman of the board until 1989, when he was named chairman emeritus. He continued to serve on the board until his death.
In addition to his Unocal duties, Hartley was an honorary director and former chairman of the American Petroleum Institute and a director of the Alliance to Save Energy.
He was a senior trustee of the California Institute of Technology, a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Conference Board, and the British-North American Committee.
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