Burl S. Watson

Burl Stevens Watson Sr. (7 November 1893 – 16 August 1975) was the president and CEO of

Born in the small town of Lincoln, Alabama, to farmer Byron Alexander Stephens Watson, he was the first graduate of Lincoln High School and went on to the University of Alabama, where he majored in electrical engineering. There is a scholarship in his name at Alabama to this day due to a donation he made to the university, which was later enhanced by Cities Service Company. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Alabama in 1957.

After serving in the Army Engineer Corps during World War I, he rose through the ranks of the large corporation, eventually moving to New York City and working at the corporate office.

He married Emitom Burns, daughter of state senator and agricultural innovator Robert Burns. They had two children, including Burl Stevens Watson Jr. who went on to become director of corporate finance of Cities Service Company. Burl Sr. had an oil tanker named after him, the Burl S. Watson, which was built at the Sörviksvarvet A/B shipyard at

• "Business: Personal File: Sep. 1, 1961". Time. September 1, 1961.
• The ship W. Alton Jones and the ship Burl S. Watson
• Lincoln, Alabama, website, citing Burl S. Watson as notable graduate Archived 2011-02-05 at the Wayback Machine
• Cities Service Ends Joint Venture with Conoco
• Photo of the Cities Service oil tanker Burl S. Watson
• Note the large Cities Service advertisement on page two, with Burl S. Watson as president
• Burl S. Watson inducting Billy Graham into the New York Southerners' Society
• Note that CITGO was the 19th largest oil company in the United States by 1982