Ever since Texas Gulf Sulphur Co. developed its first producing well in a Gulf Coast salt dome 33 years ago, Walter Hull Aldridge has been its boss. Under Aldridge, Texas Gulf became the world's biggest producer of sulphur (second: Freeport Sulphur Co.) and the largest source of the cheap, pure sulphur (i.e., brimstone) needed by thousands of industries. Last week Walter Aldridge, 83, resigned as president of Texas Gulf and stepped up to be board chairman.
Into his place went Fred M. Nelson, 54, a graduate of the Colorado School of Mines in 1925, who worked as a geophysicist before going to Texas Gulf in 1927 as a $200-a-month geological scout.
"When I came to Texas Gulf," says Nelson, "we were mostly checking up on what the other fellow was doing." The "other fellow" was the Germans who had come to the U.S. to find sulphur with scientific devices that were well ahead of those of the U.S. companies. Nelson caught up with the other fellow so fast that by 1928 he was boss of drilling at Texas Gulf's old Texas fields, later managed production of the vast new Boling Dome deposit on the Gulf Coast. In 1931, he invented the sulphur trap to separate air and steam from sulphur at the well head, thus eliminating the corrosive elements and enabling sulphur to be piped directly to plants for processing. Three years ago, Nelson worked out a deal with Pure Oil Co. to produce sulphur from sour gas in Wyoming, the largest such plant in the world. With industry everywhere short of sulphur (TIME, March 12), Nelson's big job is to boost the company's 3,200,000 tons a year output.
Other top corporate changes last week: CLEO F. CRAIG, 58, was named president of American Telephone & Telegraph Co. four days after President Leroy A. Wilson died (see MILESTONES). Craig came to A.T. & T. at 20, right out of the University of Missouri, moved up the executive ladder to general manager and vice president of Long Lines, became A.T. & T.'s No. 2 man when he was elected vice president of finance and revenue in 1949. LIEUT. GENERAL ALBERT C. WEDEMEYER, 54, retiring commander of the U.S. Sixth Army and a leading witness at the MacArthur hearings (TIME, June 25), was elected vice president of Victor Emanuel's Avco Manufacturing Corp. (Crosley Radio, Bendix Home Appliances and six other companies).
G. (for GUSTAV) S. EYSSELL, 49, president of Radio City Music Hall, became president of the 15-building Rockefeller Center, Inc. He succeeds Nelson A. Rockefeller, who will stay on as board chairman but plans to devote more time to his numerous other jobs.